Property rights

Heard Eric Raymond give a talk today. One interesting point: “People will hold on to their property, as long as the benefit of owning that property outweighs the cost of defending it.” (Quoted loosely from memory.)

He mentioned himself how this is an interesting observation in the light of what’s currently going on in the recording industry. Read this morning that music sales in Denmark is down by 30% over two years, and that they say it’s because people have CD-burners. And that it’s not really hurting them as much as it hurts upcoming artists.

Hm. They’re not getting my sympathy. It’s clear that innovation in the music industry is not coming from within the record companies. It came from a 19-year old kid.