Thursday, December 19, 2002
Penny Patrons
Back in the days before copyright, musicians were paid to play music, and composers were paid to compose--sometimes hired to write something specifically or sometimes just patronized by (typically wealthy) benefactors. Some of our greatest classical works were born under these conditions; it's funny that people now can't imagine a world without copyrights.
If copyrights just went away entirely, where would we be?
Perhaps today, with the aid of the web, we would have Penny Patrons--millions of people contributing a few dollars here and there to the bands, composers, and authors they love. Paypal ought to be just the thing to facilitate this, but they've been too irresponsible to garner the trust they would need to become ubiquitous. I'm half inclined to start a website just to support this service; something that would double as a directory with collaborative filtering, to help you find the works you'll enjoy, and a venue for penny patronage. It could even have an option where your contributions are automatically distributed amongst the authors of every work you've ever rated, in proportion to the ratings you've given them (taking into account historical contributions so newly-rated works "catch up" with the old)....
By the way...
I stumbled upon an email the other day which I had missed entirely, hidden amongst the spam. It was already a few days old and I likely would have never known I'd gotten it... makes me wonder how many I've lost! So, if you've been expecting a reply from me but haven't heard back, feel free to re-send or remind me of the date. :) I think I'm mostly caught up, so whatever I haven't replied to, I probably don't know about.
My friend Victor came by in his Jaguar to collect some of my possessions.
I had to snap a photo of his hood ornament:
(As an amusing aside, Victor came back today to pick up my safe--in a PT Cruiser which the Jaguar dealer lent him for the day while they're working on his car. It didn't occur to me until later how amusing an image that must have been--two guys struggling to lift a large safe into the back of a PT Cruiser.)
And my first winter garden, mostly collards, cabbage, and arugula, with a
few other miscellaneous edible shrubs in the mix (and no shortage of grass):
