Obama's Royalties

President Obama made $2.5 million last year from his two popular books. And he has other big publishing plans, as is being widely reported.

Somehow, I don't think that he's about to quit his day job. But I wonder whether this will lead him to believe that, if copyright is good, even more of it must be better.

HK

Music As Torture- and the Bands Played On

The use of music as torture by the Americans is still going on, according to this article.

Many musicians are upset about this. Some think it's great.

I blogged about the unpaid royalties a few months ago here and here and here.

I have a new somewhat tongue in cheek suggestion. If the US really wants to ratchet up the pain level, they should try the using the new CBC Radio 2.

For those outside of Canada, that's Canada's highly subsidized once magnificent public radio network that is now being run into the ground.

I'm serious about how painful the "New 2" is to those who care about classical music, culture and professional quality broadcasting. To slightly twist a couple of CBC's undoubtedly expensive new slogans, the "New Two" might well be described as:

Everywhere Music Aches You.

A Music Mix You Won't Hear Anywhere Else - Thank God!

BTW, the estimated advertising costs alone of the launch this very unpopular purge of a noble 7o year tradition are well over $2,000,000 to date. The CBC is refusing ATIP (access to information) requests on this issue.

The additional SOCAN and NRCC royalties that will be generated by all of the additional commercial music that is now being played at the expense of public domain classical music are likely to be several million dollars a year, as I pointed out some months ago here.

Thank goodness we can turn CBC Radio 2 off, as countless hitherto long loyal listeners have done. I can't imagine being forced to listen to it for any length of time.

HK