Raves

Posted on 2 Jul 2009 at 16:31

 

Gallery

Online pirates are distributing his old music for free, and Mel Croucher couldn't be happier about it - now all he needs is for someone to start handing out free beer.

Far beyond the wide ocean, there's an isolated tribe that reckons I'm a bit of a cult. These primitive people chant my words with reverence and gaze at my graven images with awe. Who am I talking about? The Yanks, of course. The most recent sect of my worshippers has popped up in Franklin County, Massachusetts, not far from where they burned all those witches a while back. Thanks to the wonders of online piracy, an obscure American record label is about to reissue some albums I recorded in the 1980s, by popular demand from my deluded followers.

I won't receive a cent, because my cult members believe in their inalienable rights to life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness and recycling music. And bloody good luck to them, I say.

In my opinion, intellectual copyright on software, music, writing, art, photography, film, fashion, pharmaceuticals, electronics, engineering and every other field of human endeavour should last for 20 years maximum, the same as for a patent. I do not agree with copyrights being licensed or assigned to anybody else, ever. I believe that registrations for global copyright material should be submitted via the internet, and be renewable for 10 quid a year.

I further believe that when the registration expires or is not renewed, then all copyright material automatically falls into the public domain, out of the grasp of lawyers and corporations. Far from killing creativity and revenues, I think oodles of new opportunities will be encouraged, as adaptations and variations appear. And it's in the realm of music that this revolution has already happened.

Wall-to-wall music was always on tap, via quaint little devices called radios. Then it mutated into remixes and dubs thanks to cheap hardware, before migrating to web-based facilitators such as iTunes and YouTube. Now music-on-demand is universally available via mobile phone downloads and smart internet jukeboxes such as Last.fm. By far the most liberating online music service is provided by Spotify.com, and I encourage you to sign up and enjoy the six million tracks currently awaiting your pleasure. It's free, legal and a brilliant archive of ancient and modern talent.

Far from killing the music industry, digital formats have helped UK music royalties increase by eight per cent in the past year. Sales of singles went up by 33 per cent, and a massive 65 per cent more albums were sold.

As for me, I'm delighted that somebody out there not only listens to my old stuff, but thinks it's worth disseminating, on 12in double-vinyl no less. I am thrilled at the prospect of writing the gatefold sleeve notes and look forward to lampooning my younger self, particularly a track called Piracy Tango, which was a 1980s hymn in praise of free software, free music and free beer. As soon as the album is released, I shall pirate it myself and bang it out on the web. We may not have achieved free beer since that recording was made, but two out of three ain't bad.

Author: Mel Croucher