Our right to explore our culture... (Score 1)

Here's a good question: Do we have a right to explore our own culture? I support copyright to the degree that artists should be recognized for their work, and should be able to gain compensation for their work. However, once their work becomes part of contemporary culture I think we all have a right to access it. An artist doesn't become popular all on their own. Their popularity comes about through a relationship between them and their fans. Should the fans be "compensated" for telling other people about music they like? For singing their favorite tunes around the campfire? For inviting friends to concerts? Remember when Bob Dylan sold the rights to "The Times Are A' Changing" to a bank? A friend of mine commented, "He's got no right. That song belongs to all of us now." I think he had a point. If Bob Dylan didn't want that song to become an integral part of our culture, our history, and our social consciousness... well, he should have kept it to himself. I think we have a right to explore our own culture. At $16/CD, most people can't. Suggestion: Combine a pay-what-you-can type site with a good, user driven, collaborative filtering (http://www.thevenue.org/ase.html) system. Then artists will become popular, and gain popularity, based entirely on audience response.