In my latest Guardian column, “What do we want copyright to do?” I try to get out of the “you’re a thief/you’re a greedhead” copyright debate by asking what a good copyright system would look like, and suggesting how we might design one:
Let’s start by saying that there is only one regulation that would provide everyone who wants to be an artist with a middle-class income. It’s a very simple rule: “If you call yourself an artist, the government will pay you £40,000 a year until you stop calling yourself an artist.”
Short of this wildly unlikely regulation, full employment in the arts is a beautiful and improbable dream. Certainly, no copyright system can attain this. If copyright is to have winners and losers, then let’s start talking about who we want to see winning, and what victory should be.
In my world, copyright’s purpose is to encourage the widest participation in culture that we can manage – that is, it should be a system that encourages the most diverse set of creators, creating the most diverse set of works, to reach the most diverse audiences as is practical.
Here’s part 6, the conclusion of Jury Service. Jury Service is the first of two novellas Charlie Stross and I wrote about Huw, a technophobe stuck on Earth after the Singularity (the other one being Appeals Court). They are both being published, along with a third, yet-to-be-written novella Parole Board by Tor Books as Rapture of the Nerds. We’re starting work on Parole Board in January, and to refamiliarize myself with the earlier novellas, I’m going to podcast both now (with the gracious permission of Charlie and our editor, Patrick Nielsen Hayden). Hope you enjoy ’em – they’re as gonzo as I’ve ever gotten, I think!
Mastering by John Taylor Williams: wryneckstudio@gmail.com
John Taylor Williams is a full-time self-employed audio engineer, producer, composer, and sound designer. In his free time, he makes beer, jewelry, odd musical instruments and furniture. He likes to meditate, to read and to cook.
James Riley took the trouble of going through previous posts here and assembled a list of foreign translations of my works, including ones where the links to fan-trans and commercial editions have gone dead. Thanks, James!
Here’s video of this week’s EFF Pioneer Awards ceremony in San Francisco, which I was privileged to emcee.
The Serbian edition of my novel Little Brother has just been published by Profil Knjiga!
The Serbian edition of my novel Little Brother has just been published by Profil Knjiga!
A high-school in Phoenix, Arizona is mounting a production of the theatrical adaptation of my novel Little Brother (this is the same script that was mounted for the 2008 performances in Chicago, written by Bill Massolia). They’re doing a three-night run, starting tomorrow — tickets are still available.
A high-school in Phoenix, Arizona is mounting a production of the theatrical adaptation of my novel Little Brother (this is the same script that was mounted for the 2008 performances in Chicago, written by Bill Massolia). They’re doing a three-night run, starting tomorrow — tickets are still available.
I recently spoke to the CBC’s Shelagh Rogers on The Next Chapter about my novel Makers. The interview just aired, and they’ve put up streaming audio of it as well.
