> Bo Diddley listened to (and borrowed from) every other blues > musician around at the time. Of course. He did have some original contributions to make, but he just didn't get the financial rewards for them. So when I hear the industry moaning that p2p is ripping off musicians, I sense hypocrisy. > The fairy tales *are* public domain, Mickey Mouse was an original > creation. I think you'll find that there was little original about Steamboat Willie. > You can legally parody Mickey Mouse any time you want > (it's been done a million times). Actually Disney have a long history of suing parodies - Air Pirates being the most famous I think: http://reason.com/links/links011703.shtml > My point was that > *everyone* has had it bad at some point in their life. No one has > exclusive rights on suffering. I get real tired of hearing that > old line - you can't play blues because you're A) white, B) not > poor, C) didn't grow up during the depression, D) not an > alcoholic/addict, E) not from Mississippi, F) fill in your reason > here. I think Clapton et al have every right to play the blues, just not to claim ownership of them. To illustrate the point, the RIAA could now sue an original Delta bluesman with a freely downloaded Clapton track on his hard drive. Doesn't that possibility, albeit theoretical, strike you as a bit odd? > Music, of any genre, is not the sole property of any one > group of people. You can still play and write good reggae even if > you're not from Jamaica ;-) Clapton also covered I Shot The Sherriff of course. Ironically, UB40, who are from the UK, partly white, and therefore not authentic enough for most white reggae fans, were massive in Jamaica. Cheers Daniel
