The impact of authorship, copyright and open access

When we first posted our Produsage #1, I had some initial control issues when other users began to change the content. Fortunately I worked through them and was able to appreciate and value the input from others.
It made me realize that there is a certain communal attitude that is necessary when produsing and the need for “credit” or content control has no place in the hetetarchical community of produsing.
For the most part these issues don’t impact my engagement in produsage, because I have less to lose and more to gain. If I had an idea that was profitable, I think I would choose a more effective avenue to share it, or just be ready to “play the game.” Chris Anderson, author of the new book Free, discusses his “game plan” on his blog. He offered online versions of his book for a limited time and despite between 200,000 and 300,000 free downloads, his book is tied for #11 on the NY Times Bestseller list.
This week we also followed the Joel vs. The Music Industry showdown. It proved what everyone already knew: that the music industry wants to make money, not music and definitely not friends. How could Joel paying them thousands of dollars solve the problem of illegal downloading and copyright infringement? This type of file sharing was happening long before the Internet made it so easy and widespread. Didn’t we all make and receive mixed tapes in middle school?
Instead of spending time and money tracking down the offenders, I think it’s a better idea to figure out an efficient way to monitor and enforce copyright. Even better it would be great to develop an entirely different economic system that fairly pays authors, musicians and other creators.