BBC criticised over Beethovan downloads

The BBC have been criticised by classical music labels over their recent experiment offering free MP3 versions of Beethoven's symphonies for downloading. Apparently over a million people took advantage of the offer.

One music executive said: "I think there is a question of whether a publicly funded broadcaster should be doing this and there is the obvious issue that it is devaluing the perceived value of music. You are also leading the public to think that it is fine to download and own these files for nothing."

Another said: "We have to pay premium prices to record big orchestras and pay full union rates and we have to pass those costs on to the consumer. If the BBC is going to offer recordings for free, that is going to be a major problem."

Let's see now. I believe Beethovan died in 1827, which means even if his work was protected by copyright, that copyright would have expired by now. So nobody owns his music. It is in the public domain. So whilst there may indeed be a question about whether a public broadcaster should be providing access to wonderful music from the public domain, the answer is a fairly simple yes imho.

In response to the second music executive, I'm reminded of a quote from Robert Heinlein's Life-Line:

"There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the notion that because a man or a corporation has made a profit out of the public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the face of changing circumstances and contrary public interest. This strange doctrine is not supported by statute nor common law. Neither individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back, for their private benefit."

It's a tough time to be in the music business with the changes wrought by the evolution of digital technologies but we do have to maintain a sense of proportion. The classical labels provide a worthy service commissioning and selling recordings of classical music in the public domain, which would not otherwise be so widely available. Although the music is in the public domain it is reasonable that these companies should be able to make a profit for the service they provide.

The technology, however, now opens up the possibility of creating a comprehensive library of that music on the Internet. It would arguably be anti-competitive and unreasonable to block the creation of such a library to protect the profits of the current incumbents in the classical music market. There will still be a market for classical music. The technology does not threaten music production. It threatens existing music production companies, unless they adapt their businesses to the new environment. And in response to the oft quoted "you can't compete with free", anyone for bottled water? Or as Tim O'Reilly says, on the Internet, "free" is eventually replaced by a higher quality paid service.