Black, White, Grey and mediAgora

I know I've been quiet on the mediAgora front recently, but the Grey Album case is in many ways a perfect example of the mediAgora principle of rewarding Creators of both derivative and original works.



Imagine, if you will, a parallel universe where The Beatles 'White Album' and Jay-Z's 'Black Album' had been released under mediAgora licences.



Along comes Danger Mouse, and mixes the two to make the 'Grey Album', and releases it for sale under a mediAgora license too.



So what happens?



He list both monochromatic albums as 'source works'. Everyone who buys 'The Grey Album' has to own a copy of the two source albums too. If they already do, they just pay Danger Mouse; if they own The Beatles but not Jay-Z they pay him and Danger Mouse.



As DM is generating incremental sales in this way, he gets promotion fees from the other two.



And all those bloggers pointing to the Grey Album? They get promotion fees from Danger Mouse, insofar as they generate sales (and have bought a copy themselves).



End result - every Customer has 3 great albums, and all Creators involved get paid the price they set.



And even Glenn Miller and the orchestras George Martin and the Beatles sampled could be rewarded too.