Originally posted by Psycho Amram
...you can't share with the world your way of playing it.

I could be wrong,but I thought that that is what the tricks posted by people on this site is all about.
I mean,when you go to some club and hear a band doing a cover,isn't that "Stairway to heaven by led zep(edited by the polka dots)"?
About open source playing:
Who stops anybody from doing it?Who compels any artist to get their stuff copyrighted?Why doesn't anyone just release a song they wrote and tell the world "hey,I wrote that.Do as you please with it."?
The reason,IMHO is this:the process of availing your music to the masses(read distribution) is a business.And the concept of copyright is very fundamental to that business.
Very few people(if any) do anything just for the sake of it.Forget that "money isn't very important..."-or something to that effect-line.If you,Amran,wrote a bunch of songs,and played them in the club where your band has a gig,and some record company executeive happened to be around and offered you a deal on the strength of that bunch of songs,I tend to feel that if the deal was good(whatever your parameters of a good deal are),you'd sign up.And at that point the phrase "open source" wouldn't be within a mile's radius of your brain.
And that's what happens with everyone.
Try and listen to me when I talk about business.Is computer programming an end unto itself,business wise?I don't think so,coz people for instance use Linux on their computers to serve other purposes,like run a business,a website,etc.As in the programs(whether sold or sourced openly)are a tool in making money,in earning a living(which is what we're all trying to do).
How about music?Do people use music to do something else that earns them a dime?No.You pay to enter a club(or somehow spend money in there,it's all the same)where a band you like is playing,get entertained and go home.If some other dude was to "openly source" your bunch of songs and play them for people elsewhere,people wouldn't come to see you.Or at least their numbers would be reduced.They come to the place you're playing coz they've come to realise you kick butt.Your creativity is what pulls them to you.Makes them buy your records.And ultimately hear stories,teachings,pains,whatever.If listeners go elsewhere,you,the band,doesn't get paid.The music is the business.Which is why it's a bit of a problem to "openly avail" it.And when other people(be they musicians or even consumers) want to openly avail it to themselves anyhow,that's when copyright comes in.
I've seen many songwriting joint efforts on a couple of sites.There's probably some sites that were started purposely for this.Even poetry.And that there is "open source playing".But if you look around,my bet is that what you see or hear won't impress you.
Coz human beings are motivation driven.
Earning a living is a very huge motivator.
"Money isn't everything".
Yeah yeah.

[Edited by kingdavid on 12-13-2002 at 04:38 AM]