And in Related News

A few days ago I posted a note about the BBC's planned Bach fest(including free mp3 downloads of Bach's music. Fellow blogger (and one of the best) Pliable offered up a different and not insignificant assessment titled "Musicians' Jobs before free downloads. In thinking about it, I'm not so sure that the argument doesn't flow the other way: downloads ultimatley might prove beneficial to their jobs. What's more, I'd like to believe that concern for the financial well-being of musicans is the animating concern behind objections to the BBC "free" downloads.

"steps by the record companies association, the British Phonographic Industry, to cut their earnings to 2p per download
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"Composers and songwriters are arguing in the UK copyright tribunal that they should receive 7p to 9p from every track downloaded from the internet, instead of the current 5p. The demand, issued by the Music Alliance, which works on behalf of composers, is being made to counter steps by the record companies' association, the British Phonographic Industry, to cut their earnings to 2p per download."

Read the rest here