bob,

Nobody's right or wrong on this. People apply terms like "right" and "fair" and "moral" to make themselves feel better about their ideas, and to convince others to agree with them. The few times when people are actually "right" or "moral," tend to be personal experiences, when these experiences are used as weapons, they are corrupted. As to "fair," well, there's no such thing.

There is what is, and there is what we would like to be. We, if we are sane, all go about trying to deal with what is and create what we would like to be. If you get your way, the person who lives by wit alone, the non-performing pencil wielding songwriter, loses potential income. If Graham gets his way, the performance revenue gets distributed to the responsible songwriter. As I see it, we in the U.S. are in a struggle to increase revenues to musicians---revenues which have been lost to a changed paradigm. I'd like to see us move toward the Australian model, but in the meantime, just because our model is flawed, giving up our rights won't fix it. If you get a flat tire, you don't give away the car.

I hope some PRO representatives are reading this thread. They can see how the struggle is percieved. Already, they are representing artists, which is like herding cats, and dealing with club owners, which is like herding sharks. I'm sure their decision to play hardball has been thoughtful, but I'd like to see it balanced with persuasion.

Mike


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Mike Dunbar Music

You've got to know your limitations. I don't know what your limitations are. I found out what mine were when I was twelve. I found out that there weren't too many limitations, if I did it my way. -Johnny Cash

It's only music.
-niteshift

Mike Dunbar Music