So it is obvious that I am not a fan of copyright enforcers.  But I do understand the need for them to exist.  Unlike others on my side of the aisle, I dont think the "alternative revenue streams" concept has demonstrated viability and sustainability.  I understand the need to copyright law and its varying components, and dont want to rush into some new, idealized, brave, new world of free association.  Because it wont work.

But, this story is too funny.  Slovakia is one of the old former Soviet states, and while the $70-80 dollars the villages are being charged for performance rights may seem like chump change to us in the states, it is not for those villages.  Average wages in Slovakia are about 800 euros a month, but that is only a recent development, and heavily offset by the industrial centers.  Why do I know so much about this little backwater?  A good friend is from there... So these poor villagers are having to pay what surely amounts to at least a week's salary for them for a children's performance of a folk song is pretty steep, even distributed across all the villagers.  How a folk song can be copyrighted is beyond me, and how their government can think it's good politics to levy the charges against a group of schoolkids is hilarious.  Great PR.  Guess those center-right reforms haven't completely removed the old Soviet mindset...