(2002-03-19) f

Kevin Kelly on the future of music (and, by extension, other Intellectual Property). Raises lots of issues, but even the few answers it suggests seem questionable. In the domain of the plentifully free, music will do the only thing it can do: charge for things that can't be copied easily... The quality least plentiful in a world of rampant free copies is attention (Attention Economy). People will pay simply to have someone edit the music and recommend and present selected material to them in an easy and fun manner. That is why producers, labels and the related ecology of reviewers, catalogers and guides will continue to make a living... Free is overrated as a destiny. It is only the second phase of the three stages of copydom. The first phase - perfection - is experienced in both analog and digital. Perfect duplication made the modern world and modern music. The second stage is freeness. Costless duplication made Napster possible and a music revolution thinkable. Yet it is in the third level of digital copy-ness that the real revolution lies. This third power is liquidity, and it will take music beyond Napster...