If I write a song, I am the copyright holder (unless I transfer that right to someone else). If my song gets played on the radio enough times, I get a check from ASCAP or BMI for performance royalties. Mechanical royalties (which is what I think you're referring to when you talk about the "recording" part of the…

How is my statement half true? Radio pays performance royalties and performance royalties go to the composer(s).

If you acquired your copies of those two songs legally, then yes, he is making something each time you listen. The cost for your lifetime usage was built into the price you paid for that copy.

I wasn't aware of that. To clarify, I was referring to radio in the US.

Radio is not exempt from royalties, it's just that it takes a lot of plays before the copyright holder actually sees significant money.

I believe you're saying that, because accounts are free, there's no way to prevent someone from starting another free account once they reach the limit on the stuff they like to listen to. Is this correct?

Your comment won't be read by 34 million people. Thirty-four, maybe.

Labels can be pretty useful when it comes to those little details like recording expenses and distribution. Too many people think Pro Tools and a Bandcamp page are an adequate replacement for a real studio staffed by professionals and proper marketing.

I agree with the first part of your comment. But re: TLC, you can't say that just because some artists had bad deals, the entire concept of making money from record sales is unfeasible. What about the artists who have deals that allow them to be decently compensated for the records they sell? The goal is for an…

The question of how long a copyright should last isn't exactly what I was talking about, but I don't think there's anything wrong with the current terms provided by law. If the creator retains the copyright to a work that is still valuable seventy years after they die, then who has a stronger claim to the revenue…

I was responding to the implication that because the work was done in the past the writer should be pleased to receive anything at all.

And if you found out someone else was simultaneously making $20,000 a year for that work you did twenty years ago?

The cost of lifetime usage is built into the initial price of any building. You pay $100K for a house because $100K buys you the right to walk through it as many times as you want. In other words, you ARE paying for it every time you walk through, even if there isn't a separate transaction every time you do so.

Even if it feels like you aren't paying each time you listen to an album you've bought, you are. No one would pay $15 to listen to an album one time. The cost of lifetime usage is built into the initial purchase price. This is true of all products that can be used more than once. You don't pay $20K to drive a car…

As an archaeologist, did you produce anything that a significant number of people would want to purchase?

Hume, man.

"Freeway" Henry?

Yes - I thought for a moment she was going to call him on that.

Somehow amidst their conversations about the games and probably also Stan loaning Henry the copy of Tron, I was under the impression he had gotten the video game from Stan. So I guess the video game sound wasn't significant, but I still believe that the core meaning of those shots was that Henry is the one they…

Well, if most of what we were told about the USSR wasn't true, then maybe it was actually the best place ever!