The BBC has been lambasted by classical music labels for making all nine of Beethoven's symphonies available for free download over the Internet.This week the BBC will announce there have been more than a million downloads of the symphonies during the month-long scheme. But the initiative has infuriated the bosses of leading classical record companies who argue the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition.
...via acb from The Independent (costs to read the article)
"Unfair competition?" If this becomes the new catchcry of those trying to stop the public domain I think we've lost all hope. Captialism has won.
Any music company that basses their entire catalog on out of copyright material should be aware of risks just like this. I hope desperately that they're told to bug off and get over it.