Do musicians, writers, and artists depend on copyright to earn a living?
The vast majority of musicians, writers, and artists will never see a dime of copyright royalties in their lives. For the small percentage who do, it will mostly amount to beer money — a nice consolation prize, but hardly enough to make a real difference in their lives, let alone to provide an economic incentive to create.>> Unfortunately artists rely on big publishers to purchase and distribute their work. One major drawback to this model is that only a small handful of “in vogue” artists can make a living, it’s all up to the whim of the publishers. There is indeed little room for innovation (that is, if you want to make a living from your art). But the issue is not in copyright law, it’s in this top-down business model. To abolish copyright and maintain this monopolistic business model would achieve little for artists that want to make money from art.
