I do agree that artists are going to create no matter what. I do suspect we'd have less works if nobody could make a living doing it though. Especially things like film and animation which historically required crazy amounts of money up front. People were willing to fund those efforts because they could expect a likely return on their investment which without copyright protections wouldn't be possible.
We've gone way overboard, but I do think some level of protection for creators is for the best even now when it's easier and less expensive than ever to create.
i don't agree. fine artists will, but the bulk of consumed art is commercial art, it's a job, and most people only work if they get money for it.
I like the soviet model of commissioning people to write e.g. math and science books: the author got a stipend like any office worker, and copyright belonged to the commissioner (the country).
> i don't agree. fine artists will, but the bulk of consumed art is commercial art
The bulk of art consumed is advertising. The bulk of art created however is not commercial art. It's people who paint, write music, write stories, etc. as a hobby. Even if it's just writing bad fan fic or shitty furry drawings people are constantly creating and publishing in their spare time. If all the commerial art went away, we'd seek out more of their stuff.
In the end there are very few artists who would never create anything again unless they were getting paid to do it. Money isn't really the reason artists create. They tend to feel a need to express themselves and have a love for the work they do. It's why artists are so easily exploited.
The works we prefer to consume tend to cost a lot more to produce and those are the things we'd risk losing if there
copyright didn't exist at all. It'd be a sad state of affairs if all we had to read was fan fic. Even then though, a lot of people create impressive and popular works and release them for free.
We've gone way overboard, but I do think some level of protection for creators is for the best even now when it's easier and less expensive than ever to create.