ABSTRACT
One of the biggest changes in music in the past thirty years or so has been in the role of the composer. To be the originator in Western classical music traditionally implies a hierarchy and one that is consolidated by copyright laws. This hierarchy is based on the idea that the composer is a figure of ultimate authority, underpinned by an assumption that the composer’s ears are somehow better than those of a musician. The new technologies have challenged this hierarchy. First, they have placed all the tools for composing within reach: it is easy to create music. Second, they have enabled a degree of interaction with the music that can blur the distinction between the originator and the consumer. People can instantly remix, mash up, or otherwise recreate music. Third, they have transformed the act of performance into (potentially) an act of composition. People can record as they perform and make identical copies, which never degrade in quality. The separation that has grown up between composers and musicians is breaking down. The musician may be as much of an originator as the composer. In certain circumstances, the audience can become the originator.
