By Tiffany Brooks

I was reading an article about how the British government decided that copyrighted songs will automatically go into the public domain after 50 years. Actually they turned down a request by the UK music industry to extend copyright for sound recordings beyond 50 years to 70.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/24/the-uk-says-no-to-over-50-year-music-copyright/

Of course this is upsetting to artists in the UK, and rightfully so. But the comments to this article were very disturbing to me. Some of the comments were blaming the artist for taking the deals that were handed to them. How could the Beatles change copyright law? If they wanted their songs to get out there, they had to accept the laws at the time.

I’m disturbed by the fact that the public has no problem using creative works such as music, art, poetry, and literary works for free but they don’t mind patronizing a business for over 100 years (ie. Sears). Where’s the respect for the arts? There is definitely a double standard. Why should Coca-Cola have the right to profit from its trade secrets forever if they want to, but I can’t protect my music? I can’t put copyrights in my will for my children because in the US, after 95 years, my music will be in the public domain. My children couldn’t benefit from royalties.

If the public knew how hard some of us worked to create music, they wouldn’t be so hasty for us to hand it over to them for free. We are having to deal with the fact that some in the public are stealing copyrighted material as of now. They feel it is their right to have free music. What’s up with that? Why would they think they have a right to acquire music for free? I’ll tell you why. It’s because they don’t value it. People show how much they value something by parting with money for it. Clearly, there are people who think we as musicians are just having fun and that we shouldn’t be paid for our labor.

I understand that there is music out there that is not worth a penny, but the market should determine this by low to no sales. Clearly, if you don’t like a song, you shouldn’t spend money on it. But you shouldn’t get if for free regardless of whether or not you like it.

Ultimately, I write music because I truly love it and I really need to do it. Money is secondary. But the reason why I worry that the public doesn’t want to pay for music is because I feel they don’t respect it. How are musicians supposed to happily create music when they know that society doesn’t respect what they do?

I feel plenty of resistance when I commit to composing my music on a regular schedule. Resistance can manifest in many ways. For example, my air conditioning unit stopped working last week and I was miserable. Still, I sat in my hot office with the computer on and wrote for an hour like I promised to do. It wasn’t easy though. The only thing that kept me going was the fact that I knew that I couldn’t show weakness or else my routine might be ruined. I didn’t want to have to rebuild the mental toughness that I had created, so I fought like hell.

I experience resistance frequently when it comes to using my music studio. It’s usually a software glitch or some kind of limitation I find in the software which sends me on an internet search to find a solution. I’m used to resistance attempting to beat me down everyday. I used to let it win, everyday. There was a period of time (years actually) in which I did nothing towards my music. I was in mental pain every day because I wasn’t writing.

I would rather experience the minor upsets that resistance throws my way, than to go through the mental pain I felt when I wasn’t writing. So, if you ever feel that resistence is trying to distract you, fight it. Even if you can only write 10 minutes a day, or remix a part of your song or rewrite your lyrics, etc., do it because it’s the symbolic action that eventually beats resistance and creates success.