So, evidently, if you show up for a party at a major record label in an eight-year-old Napster t-shirt, some employees of the label do not take that in the playful and ironic spirit in which it is intended.

Last night I found out that simply knowing the many ways in which intellectual property is broken, especially in commercial music, and knowing what Creative Commons is, makes me a radical.

An EMI person kind of proudly said, "I've never downloaded a file." I asked whether she had ever used e-mail, and she elucidated, "I've never downloaded music." I pointed out that I download music legally, such as from Salon's Audiofile. Both of us had never actually used Napster, it came out. She said she had an iPod that someone else had loaded for her ("Like Bush!" I said, but I think she didn't hear me), and she asked him to make sure that it was all legal and paid for, and wasn't sure if she had to register it somehow.

I mentioned that this is one reason I like Creative Commons music, and she'd never heard of CC. When I tried to explain it to her, and she asked how those artists make any money, I mentioned the merch/tour proofit center, and I paraphrased The Problem With Music and Courtney Love Does the Math. She doubted. We got separated before reaching any kind of conclusion, and she said she wished we could continue our conversation. But I don't remember her name and we didn't get each other's cards.

Much funnier than this: I met a woman named Laurie Jakobsen, and her name and face were familiar. I wondered aloud how I might know her, and she said she was in PR so lots of people know her whom she doesn't know. I empathized, since I used to teach. Then, thinking she might be in the tech world, I asked whether she'd be at the anti-DRM protest at the Apple Store later in June. She gave me an odd look and responded in the negative. We didn't talk much more after that.

Turns out Laurie Jakobsen works at a music licensing firm and used to be a VP at Sony. I'm still wondering where I saw her before.