AUSTIN, March 13 — Forget all of this research into biodiesel, wind power, solar, etc. — I have to believe that if science could figure out how to harness the energy produced by the creative types at South by Southwest in Austin, we could have our energy needs met well into the future.

My history as a creator involves singing (other people's works) and writing (my own works, but more fact than fiction and thus, fortunately, not the creativity of, say, James Frey). But spend just a few hours in conversation with a few people here and you find individuals who really do think differently than the rest of us, and that's a good thing. They make mental connections others wouldn't, they hear thing others don't, and as a result they produce things we cherish, creative works of such value that millions of people are willing to dedicate time to downloading them from P2P sites (and uploading them) without compensation for these creators.

There's a PR campaign out there that has enlisted the support of a few bands who are not currently making much money off of their recorded works, and so copyright doesn't seem as immediate to them. What's interesting is that this PR campaign says it's fighting to promote the rights of these artists to self-promote and self-produce their works. But there is nothing — I repeat, nothing — in copyright law or anywhere else that is preventing artists from using every means at their disposal, from the latest digital advances to simply handing out CDs at the door of a club, to promote themselves. The consumer electronics industry doesn't need to fund a PR campaign to promote something that is already happening and faces no obstacles.

The other message of the campaign is that in a digital age everyone is an artist. Apparently, because I can buy some mixing equipment and software for my computer, I can be a recording artist. Because I can buy a nice digital camera, I can be a filmmaker. Both of these statements are true, but can I be a good recording artist? Can I be a good filmmaker?

Typewriters first went into general use a century ago. Did that make everyone a novelist? Potentially, but history has shown it didn't make everyone a good novelist. That's an example I can understand with my background as a writer. Technology advances and gives creators more opportunities, but it doesn't create more creators. Skills are developed, talent is inherent. I may have done well as a singer in the past, but I always failed at writing my own music. I understand the special role creators play in our society. And my goal is that more people will understand this, and understand that we don't want to erode the incentives we have in this country to encourage these special people to continue to create.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, March 13th, 2008 at 8:29 am by Patrick Ross and is filed under creators. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.