Re: Fwd: FNV-RIAA IS CRACKING DOWN

[Peter Harlan <pharlan@efn.org>]

This is a very interesting discussion, and we can look at things from 
several
different perspectives:

-- What are the theoretical legal rights of those who write music, perform 
it,
   produce it, sample it, sell it and so on?
-- What rights do these people have in practice, given that wealth and 
power
   do have a major effect on the application of legal principles?
-- What are the ethical issues involved here, since what is legal is not
   necessarily ethical, and what is illegal is not necessarily unethical?
-- What are the aesthetic issues involved here; e.g., why is a work deemed 
to
   be creative, or derivative, or a mixture of both?
-- How do we feel about these issues as consumers of the musical culture's
   output?

But, I'd like to look at this from another, culturally removed, point of 
view.
In Java, there are ancient traditions that guide the composition of new 
gamelan
works. New pieces are welcomed, but they must not depart radically from 
what is
already in the standard repertoire. It is quite common, and acceptable, to
create a new composition based almost entirely on another one, with just a 
few
new wrinkles thrown in. The Javanese culture, of which the gamelan 
tradition is
just a part, values cooperation and harmony much more than individualism 
and
originality.

When we start to think in absolute terms about what is right or what 
should be
done, it can be an eye-opening experience to consider things from the 
point of
view of a very different culture.

-Peter