> People usually say contemporary media sucks because of commercial pressures, but those commercial pressures and conditions wouldn't exist without the expansion of copyright.
I think this is a pretty bold assertion. Copyright protection exists because of what you call "commercial pressures", and what I would call "the desire of content producers to pay their bills". Sure, it leads to self-reinforcing pathologies that seek to expand the scope of the protections, but for every Disney, there are millions of small-scale creators who get to make a living because there are at some legal hinderances to third parties selling copies of their music, books, and so forth.
I don't think we can assume that if copyright did not exist, we'd live in an utopia where all the same content is still available and we get some additional liberties to write Mickey Mouse erotica. More likely, we'd see a significant drop in certain types of creative activity, because in the absence of royalties, you need a wealthy patron to pay your bills, and wealthy patrons are in short supply. I'd also wager that media empires would still be built, just structured around barriers less pleasant than copyright. A Disney-operated cinema with metal detectors and patdowns for all guests. Maybe a contract you need to sign to enter, too.
> there are millions of small-scale creators who get to make a living because there are at some legal hinderances to third parties selling copies of their music, books, and so forth.
They may be benefiting from copyright’s existence, but with rare exceptions they are not benefiting from its expansion, which is the topic in what you were responding to. And its expansion probably harms them.
Abolishing copyright altogether is almost never what is being proposed, though some will suggest tearing it all down to replace it with something much more restricted, often more like the Statute of Anne.
I think this is a pretty bold assertion. Copyright protection exists because of what you call "commercial pressures", and what I would call "the desire of content producers to pay their bills". Sure, it leads to self-reinforcing pathologies that seek to expand the scope of the protections, but for every Disney, there are millions of small-scale creators who get to make a living because there are at some legal hinderances to third parties selling copies of their music, books, and so forth.
I don't think we can assume that if copyright did not exist, we'd live in an utopia where all the same content is still available and we get some additional liberties to write Mickey Mouse erotica. More likely, we'd see a significant drop in certain types of creative activity, because in the absence of royalties, you need a wealthy patron to pay your bills, and wealthy patrons are in short supply. I'd also wager that media empires would still be built, just structured around barriers less pleasant than copyright. A Disney-operated cinema with metal detectors and patdowns for all guests. Maybe a contract you need to sign to enter, too.