Under the parole ’Meet the authors i Bruxelles’ a number of musicians met with European Parliament to emphazise the importance of copyright in the digital age.
On one side you have companies like Google advocating a regime of more freedom (less protection?) supported by the European Comission who with the new head of the European Commission has announced thet he will create new jobs “by modernising copyright rules in the light of the digital revolution and changed consumer behaviorâ€
On the other side you have (some/most) artists earning their living by copyright rules and the earnings from their works. Jens Skov Thomsen from the Danish Band “Veto†is quoted in Politiken for saying that between 25% and 50% of his earnings come from collection rights based on copyright.
The circle of creation is a delicate balance between encouraging people to create new material and enabling subsequent artists to use previously created material under fair conditions AND making products consumers will like/buy/rent/stream/watch (you can continue the list yourself).