Musicians, Fans and Online Copyright

How Can We Maximize Copyright's Return to Society?

Rufus Pollock

[Emmanel College, Cambridge University]

Whose Interests?

Society's ...

The Endless Talk of Balance

Rightsholders vs. Consumers etc

Entirely Mistaken

Essentially only one Group We Need to Care About

Citizens/Consumers

They Already Care About Both Sides

A. Production (no works produced then nothing to enjoy)

B. Use (higher price means less access)

Remember: Only Care About 'Producers'

In so far as they produce works we want

(What about producer surplus (profits)? Nothing special: they're just transfers from consumers)

Remember: Only Care About 'Producers'

In so far as they produce works we want

(What about producer surplus (profits)? No, not really: they're just transfers)

Copyright Welfare Analysis 101

Classic Trade-Off with (More) Copyright

More money => more works

Less access => more deadweight losses

Need To Get this Balance Right

NOT Doing This Currently

Copyright is (Way) Too Long

(We Can Say with 99.9% Confidence)

What We Want (and should have):

EVIDENCE BASED POLICY

What We Want (and should have):

EVIDENCE BASED POLICY