University Communications

Summer 2002
Who owns the music?
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"While we're waiting to change the laws, which may take a lifetime," Seeger says, "it's equally important to change the sensibilities of people using this music so that they recognize the rights of the original performers."

He envisions a "new awareness" of the issues of musical ownership.

"People need to realize that you don't just take music off of an old recording without finding out who owned it," Seeger says. "To do so, you are making off with a product of their creative spirit. By law and by moral right they should have a say in what is being done with it."

He harkens back to the Suya.

"When I went down to Brazil this past summer, they were concerned about their music being heard by everybody. They said, 'We don't mind people learning about us … but what are they going to do for us?' I think," says Seeger, "that it's a reasonable question for them to ask."

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