Patrick Ross, reporting from Las Vegas:

When I'm back next week I'll write more about the Vegas Music Conference (lvmc.us) but let me note some quick first impressions, including explaining the meaning of the title of this blog..

First, no offense to many of the artists here, but I confirmed this week that I'm not a huge fan of electronica. I recognize the creativity behind it, but honestly, after awhile that loud, repetitive pounding was like a pneumatic drill. Perhaps Jim would have liked it more.

The panel was fantastic. I was on the dias with two solid IP attorneys and a music publisher (more on them next week). There were several dozen songwriters in the audience, a couple dozen producers, a handful of performance artists and a few remixer DJs.

After two hours of discussion, many attendees weren't ready for it to end, and swarmed the table. A bunch of us talked for another hour. One songwriter in particular made an impression on me.

First, he picked up on my panel discussion of IP enforcement here and abroad to share his own story. He apparently has written a number of songs that have later been recorded or significantly altered without his permission. This is his livelihood, so he has to chase these folks down at his own expense; sometimes the violation has been abroad, adding to time and expense.

He said he's gone online to learn more about how he can protect his rights, and keeps seeing all these "copyfight" people trying to make a crusade about removing his rights entirely.

I should note here that I behaved myself in the panel and made no mention of Lessig or the Free Culture Movement. But he assumed I was familiar with them and hoped I could explain their thinking. Waving his arm to encompass all the songwriters in the room, he said, "Why do they hate us so much?"

I mumbled something about how they are only focused on the user of creative goods, not the process the original creator goes through, but I didn't really answer his question. Where does that intense hostility toward creators in the Copyleft community come from?

I wish I knew.