A reader drew my attention to the fact that an essential point was missing from my post Listening to music should be free: the clarification of the concept of value in relation to music, or more generally: art. I would like to address this in this post.
This is not intended to be an incentive to illegally obtain music! This is about my opinion on why I don't find the monetization of just listening to music (at least digitally) very justifiable. It is understandable to me, but it doesn't feel (anymore?) like the "right way". Why?
As a freelance artist, sooner or later you will come to the point where you have to do something - in my opinion, something strange - like pricing licenses. In doing so, German copyright law (§31 UrhG) distinguishes between "simple or exclusive right". But what does that mean and how can you even calculate something like this?