So The Rambler has informed me that IMSLP, a web site that posts scores for public domain music, has been put on hiatus by GoDaddy at the request the Music Publishers Association of the UK (MPA). Apparently, this is not the first time this has happened. The MPA is concerned over the status of a Rachmaninoff piece (The Bells). I have no idea how the legal nuances of this work out since, obviously, these scores are available internationally through IMSLP. The part that concerns me is how Rachmaninoff feels about all this. He died in 1943. Many people have been born, lived full lives, and died since his death. Isn’t the point of copyright to protect creators? To give them financial incentive to create? How is Rachmaninoff benefiting from this? How is his family benefiting from this? I’m pretty sure he never even had kids so there would be no younger beneficiaries of his work. Even if he had kids, it would be pretty likely that they would have already lived out their long lives as well. To me, this is the problem with the copyright system: our culture is being held up for ransom.