Contextualizing the copyright debate: reward vs. creativity

Contextualizing the copyright debate: reward vs. creativity

In a post on the declining revenues of the record business, progressive blogger Matt Yglesias wrote last week, “It is, of course, possible that at some point the digital music situation will start imperiling the ability of consumers to enjoy music. The purpose of intellectual property law is to prevent that from happening, and if it does come to pass we’ll need to think seriously about rejiggering things.”

Is that the purpose of copyright law? Sonny Bunch at America’s Future Foundation didn’t think so, but his debate with Yglesias turned out to be much more than one of the numerous daily spats that make up life in the blogosphere. Instead, it went to very nature of a crucial institution like copyright—and it asks whether that institution exists to help the creators or society at large.

It’s worth thinking about the answers.

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