The Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers is on a roll. After successfully persuading the two major media networks GMA7 and ABS-CBN to pay back performance royalties amounting to several millions, it has stretched its roster of licensees in an unprecedented pace. While it is puny compared to its counterparts in Europe, Japan and the US, and still way behind its Indonesian and Malaysian neighbor societies, the trend is clear. More and more establishments are now willing, if grudgingly, to recognize Intellectual Property.
Is that good or bad? It is a ridiculous question to ask especially if you sit in the board of FILSCAP. Of course it is a good thing. That way, composers and lyricists will not only be commended but actually compensated for their creations. It’s a measly sum for average composers like myself. Last year I got something like 1,500 pesos if I’m not mistaken, what with the twenty five years’ worth of work that I put in the ‘industry’! Of course, those who churn out more popular tunes get the choice portions. That’s because performance royalties are payments to composers and lyricists for the public performances of their works. It simple: no-playback, no-payback.
That is also why we sometimes find ourselves settling disputes over ownership of certain songs, especially those which turn out to be lucrative hitmakers. I also sit in the Complaints Committee and it is unbelievable how two or even more parties could actually claim authorship of the same composition!
The key word is ownership, and the term intellectual property could not have been more precisely coined. The logic is neat: you drink beer, you happy, you pay. You sing song, you happy, you pay. Intellectual property is in every sense private property that you may sell, rent or lease. Just like shirts, mineral water, real estate or dental service. So when a radio station plays your song, they pay; when somebody sings your song in a karaoke joint or music lounge, you get paid; when airlines, malls or answering machines loop their playlists, they pay performance royalties. That’s right, just like rent.
So, what’s your point? Well, once upon a time we said that that is precisely the thing that makes life on earth unbearably tough for the great majority who do not have.. Property.
Just to make sure there’s no mistaking, I think those who think otherwise, meaning those who believe that the well-off should not be burdened by the plight of the less-fortunate or less-equipped, are entitled by law to their view and prerogative. This is neither a thesis against capitalism nor in defense of socialism. If you ask me, they are both ‘property-driven’ systems ruled by stockholders and party members respectively.
So what is it? It is a coded message exclusively for those who, like I said, once upon a time said there has to be a better way of dividing the pies of labor and provision in order to ‘make poverty history’ as the wristband says.
How? Frankly, I don't know how. Perhaps the Marxists are right, we are a pre-human society. And it could take eternity to evolve further so that our creeds may overcome our cravings and our ethos may overtake our biology. Perhaps the answer lies in genetics or cutting edge physics, or even hypnosis!
Our cultures have failed us, making us too preoccupied with our identities and turfs. Our faiths have failed us, as our religions are guarding sacred wisdom just as fervently as acquiring land titles. Our teachers have failed us, ever emphasizing that some are smarter than others.
I myself have given up on grand narratives (with the exception of the truly exciting prospect of finding a unified platform for gravity and particle physics). Ganun daw talaga pag tumatanda na hehe. As we say in college, it’s not the speed (100kph), it’s the velocity (xkph South). As we say in Kaalagad, the little that we can contribute in our lifetime may we do so in the right direction.
Small gestures, that’s all I can afford. And since we live in a neo-liberal capitalist world order, as leftists like to call it, we don't have much choice but to play by its rules. Sometimes people ask why I allow my songs to be downloaded for free. Either I’m sooo rich or sooo stupid. Or nobody likes them enough to buy them anyway. I don’t think so. I think a few hundred people like my CDs. Saranggola sa Ulan did not do very bad, and LEAN still sells after ten years. Stupid perhaps, rich most definitely not.
I still believe there has to be a better way of doing things, even within the framework of market economics. It’s not an original idea. Polanyi argued about it more than a century ago (yes, before Marx). St. Paul expounded on the subject in his letter to the Church in Corinth. And early communitarian societies practiced it even long before Christ’s birth.
Must intellectual property be copyright protected? I say No, but we have no choice. Is private property absolute? Don't think so, but we have no choice. So why are the mp3s in this site accessible and some even downloadable for free? No, they’re not. We're just charging zero pesos. -- Gary Granada
http://www.garygranada.com/
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