[Cerek the Barbaric]

But

Originally posted by Yorick: That only becomes copyright infringement if you sell the recording. If you make money off the song. However, the law requires you to pay a compulsory license out of sales. There is nothing that suggests you cannot sing or record a song for your own personal enjoyment. You just don't own the song, so can't advertise with it, sell it etc

The highlighted sentence is actually a direct contradiction to everything you have been saying since your opening post, Yorick. You have said from Post One that individuals are NOT ALLOWED to make a copy of a song for ANY reason...not even their own personal enjoyment.

I've also noted that you have consistently told people their opinions aren't valid if they aren't a musician and "living the life". To my knowledge, that would mean the ONLY IW member whose opinion IS valid here would then be yours. I don't know of any other members that are trying to make thier living as a musician.

I also noted that when examples WERE given of other musicians that disagreed with your viewpoint, you basically said their opinions weren't valid either. The Grateful Dead, Journey, and Van Halen were called dinosaurs (of course, they all still get a bucket-load of play time on the radio). And Madonna is a good businesswoman, but nobody considers her a great vocalist...well, nobody except the fans that have purchased about a gazillion of her albums.

I'm sorry, Yorick, but all I really see here is "If you don't agree with me, then your opinion doesn't count". You just told Willow that she can't just pop in and offer an opinion that differs with yours and the law you've quoted. Yet, when others have provided links to other sites and laws that contradict the copywrite law, they are dismissed out of hand.

I actually agree with you to a certain point. Certainly songs cannot be used in movies, commercials, or to promote a store without paying the original artist a royalty fee. The same goes for artists doing covers of other artist songs. The BIG difference between THOSE users and the individual consumers is that the individual consumer is NOT trying to "make money" off the copies they make or the files they share or download. For the most part, they are doing it for personal entertainment, something you just agreed they are allowed to do. They don't own the song. They can't sell it or advertise with it. But - as you just said - there is nothing to suggest they can't sing or record a song for their own personal enjoyment.