From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@datamann.com)
Date: Sat Mar 30 2002 - 08:24:02 MST
spike66 wrote:
> >> >>
> We have a clear precedent in the world of published sheet music. When
> photocopiers became widely available in the 70s, it became so easy to copy
> music that the profitability of publishing sheet music decreased
> dramatically.
> Consequently fewer artists bothered to publish in that format. As
> a child and teenager, I always wondered why so much of the music
> libraries were old, ten years or more. Now I know. This is a clear
> example of both quality and quantity of a type of intellectual property
> declining in proportion to the decline of its profitability.
I recall in high school band that the band director was always worried
about a concert being messed up by some music industry person coming in
to see that all of our sheet music was original and not copies (i.e.
confiscating our sheet music just before going on stage). Of course, the
school couldn't afford to buy several hundred copies of sheet music
every year. The piracy of copying it was a direct consequence of the
pricing (which I assume was set on the assumption that it would be
pirated).
I do recall, though, that all through high school (the early 80's) the
chorus and band directors were able to get sheet music for many recent
pop tunes, so I don't think that there wasn't any publishing going on. I
do think that there was a significant amount of consolidation in the
distribution industry. The Music Stand, a mail order company located
here in Lebanon, controlled more than 80% of the sheet music mail order
market in the late 80s. They have since either moved away or gone out of
business. With the internet, it is possible to get sheet music from
anywhere in the world, so this lends toward music companies selling
sheet music directly, which also allows them to police the piracy of
sheet music better.
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