Keen On? Suzanne Vega: Music, Like Oranges, Shouldn?t Be Given Away for Free (TCTV)

Question: Who is the mother of MP3? Answer: Singer songwriter Suzanne Vega, whose iconic 1981 song ?Tom?s Diner? was used by MP3 inventor Karl-Heinz Brandenberg to calibrate the standard of the revolutionary codec that would change the music industry forever. Vega?s attitude to the music industry is pretty matrimonial too. On Wednesday, she keynoted the ?CREATE: Protecting Creativity from the Ground Up? conference in Washington DC, put on by the technology and media coalition Arts and Labs (for whom, full disclosure, I consult). Not only did Vega play us an haunting intimate version of ?Tom?s Diner?, but she also spoke uncompromising in favor of the artist?s right to be paid for his or her work. Arguing that if she wasn?t paid for her songs she would have to go back to being a receptionist, Vega argued that music, like oranges, shouldn?t be given away for free.

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