Who Owns Your Imagination?
By: The Shamanatrix

We have all heard the story about the artist who goes to the crossroads,
makes a deal with the devil and signs a recording contract. Even today
the only way artists can gain access to the large companies that distribute
creativity is if they agree to sacrifice ownership of their imagination.

The celebrated myth of signing a record deal is the moment an artist
no longer owns the fruits of their creative labor. This singular error
of judgment is oftentimes unrecoverable and financially fatal.

This timeless tale need not ever happen again. In cyberspace, an artist
can easily step into the role that was once best filled by elephantine
companies who specialized in moving pieces of plastic from one corner
of the world to another. The digital distribution of creativity places the
individual artist on an even footing with major corporations when it
comes to the efficient worldwide dissemination of creative works.

I envision a future where artists will be able to both own their imaginations
and make a decent living doing what they love, making art. People will be
far more likely to pay for creative works online when they know that their
monies are directly enriching the artist while also enabling that artist to
continue pursuing their personal and professional passions with intensity.

The rise of citizen creators in cyberspace will not fully displace those
who create within the shackle of contractual bondage. Rather, citizen
creators will augment and complement the palette of creative options
for a public that has frankly been overcharged and starved of creative
quality and diversity for decades. Now is the time for songwriters
and publishers to renew their creative alliance and build businesses
in cyberspace that bring no violence to the rights of the artist or to
the rights of our global, copy-enabled and hyper-networked society.

The plantation economy that record labels represent must change.
It is far too cruel on new artists while established house slave artists
who no longer control their own rights, are waved before the adoring
throngs as an example of what lies ahead if we all just do as we're told.
 

(C)reative Commons 1999 - 2003 "The Digital Dialectic"
A production of Virtual Recordings.com
 

The Universe Is Listening!
Radio Free Cyberspace
VR Article Archive
VR Audio Archive
Virtual Chronicle
Digital Dialectic