The Fight for On-Line Music Gains a Powerful New Ally

Lawrence Lessig Condemns Big Music Companies

Lessig: "..this battle has little to do with whether artists get paid."

The WIZARD has disagreed with the professor in several areas of Internet development and competition, especially involving government legislation in areas of free speech. So we are especially pleased now to welcome Lessig and very insightful arguments into the current debate over on-line music. Lessig has seen the big record lables for exactly what they are: greedy obstructionists who desire absolute control over every aspect of the business from creation to distribution.

Lessig has written a brilliant editorial in The Standard. All quotes below are from that Editorial.

• "To most, the battle over online music is about whether artists should be paid...But as the labels clearly know, this battle has little to do with whether artists get paid. The real issue is innovation, not compensation..."

• "The DMCA's compulsory licensing provision was to be a limited compromise. Artists could get paid and innovators could invent. Indeed, here was a class of innovators who had a single message for the labels: Let us pay you. But -- surprise, surprise -- almost three years after the DMCA was passed, the labels have failed to agree on terms. The labels demand a price 30 to 40 times what Webcasters reasonably believe their content is worth. And now the labels have launched yet more lawsuits against the most innovative members of this struggling industry."

• "Hey Congress, the labels are playing you. They have no intention of allowing innovation in a means of distribution that they can't control..."

• "Congress should listen to what the market says. When innovators controlled the future of online music, billions flowed to that market. Once the courts made it clear that dinosaurs were in control, billions quickly evaporated. Congress could flip this market around in a single legislative stroke: Pass a law setting compulsory rates for Webcasting of whatever form, as well as rates for downloading and distributing music."

• "And if this debate really is about compensation, then while they are at it, Congress could require that 75 percent of the income from this new, wholly unexpected stream of revenue flow to the artists, and not to the labels."