[ I finally got around to finishing this, so I'm finally ready to meme it...

It covers the issue fairly well, I think, for one asserting that while exclusive copyrights do a good job of providing a system of revenue for major rightsholders, and established, successful artists, exclusivity isn't a boon for unknown artists, and in fact hinders them creatively.

There's a decent discussion of the fact that digitalization hasn't actually provided all the amazing things everyone thought it was going to, and some discussion of why.

Personally, what I took out of this, aside from the things i had already concluded about copyright, was that there exists a huge potential for reputation systems which can take the noise of so many competing voices and filter it into a truly useful channel for promoting quality work, that would otherwise never get noticed. This article talks about disintermediation of the distribution channels for music -- the internet is that, the ultimate lack of mediation. What's really needed is a method of mediating which isn't based as much on the marketing dollars of the majors, but on the interests and opinions of the people who listen to the music. -k]

Artists' earnings and copyright