Introduction By Robin Rolfe
What more appropriate place could there be to discuss the future of music copyright than the birthplace of Mozart and one of the music capitals of the world, Salzburg, Austria? On the eve of the annual Salzburg Music Festival, several hundred colleagues and friends of Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property gathered to ponder the issues on July 22, 2000 at a seminar titled, "Music Copyright in the Digital Age."
For such an occasion nothing less than the inspirational setting of the Grand Salon of the International Foundation Mozarteum Salzburg ("Mozarteum") would do. The program brought together a faculty of distinguished music industry legal and business experts that are dealing with changing communications technologies and Internet developments no one could have imagined just a few years ago.
The format of the day was evaluation and commentary on the current challenges, state of the law and the equities and ethics, followed by panel discussions on how the music industry is responding, what other actions might be useful and, finally, the potential impact on the creators and producers of music as well as the public. Much of the inquiry explored whether extrapolating traditional copyright concepts and laws to the new technologies is appropriate and sufficient.
The speakers grappled with the issues and analyzed the emerging legal cases, including MP3 and Napster. The timing could not have been more fitting when less than a week later, a U.S. federal court in California awarded a stunning victory to the rights holders by enjoining the Internet service, Napster, Inc., from allowing copyrighted music to be pirated online. With appeals ahead, the legal, business and ethical questions discussed by the seminar speakers, no doubt, will be argued in the courtroom.
Following this day of critical inquiry, the participants adjourned to an evening of music appreciation, with a concert organized by AGIP and performed by the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg at the famous Felsenreitschule.
The highlight of the concert was an original composition by the composer Alberto Colla, "Ruins of Palmyr", which was the winner of the Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property International Contest of Composition."
The documents comprising this publication which you now hold in hand, formed the basis for a stimulating day of analysis and discovery of music copyright. I hope that you will find the insights within to be