Music & Copyright in America: Towards the Celestial Jukebox

Earlier this year, I read an excellent book "Music & Copyright in America: Towards the Celestial Jukebox" by Kevin Parks, a newsletter reader who was kind enough to send me a copy. The book details the century-long history of music copyright cases from sheet music to 21st-century fights over piracy. Towards the end, Parks highlights a little-known paper by the US House of Representatives in 1995. The report looked at the Digital Performance Right in Sound Recordings Act of 1995, which would eventually establish a digital performance right, and foresaw that easily duplicated high-quality online audio might be wonderful for consumers but represented a potential threat to those “who depend upon revenues derived from traditional record sales”. Doesn't that sound familiar?

David L Turner, Penny Fractions
​"There Is Too Much Music Out There (Part 1)"
MAY 3, 2023  
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