This is a very important article about the role of money in writing. The purpose of copyright is to foster new work by protecting the authors financial interest in it, i.e. to help the author make money from creating art and knowledge. It doesnt guarantee you an income—but money is its point, because we all gotta eat, even when making art. Yes, authors seek out other work to support their profession, but thats no argument that they dont need copyright protections. As the writer of this article notes, other work cuts our writing time, often kills it entirely. In the nineteenth century, the United States didnt honor foreign copyright; American magazines were filled with British work, reproduced without paying the authors a shilling. So we were able to read Dickens for cheap, but Melville had to work in the Customs House, his productivity cut by more than half, surely. The ease of theft in the digital age, aided and abetted by Silicon Valley titans who profit from piracy, has recreated those terrible conditions. And yet, the rights of authors are under attack by those who think that copyright protections are too onerous—something you can only believe if you dont understand the purpose of copyright, or the realities of todays media environment. Even under the best system, not everybody will be able to make a living as a writer, musician, photographer, filmmaker, or other artist. But this is no time to make it harder.
Posted on: Sun, 25 Jan 2015 23:08:36 +0000
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