"Please stop fixing things!"

At Regie's Blog we read about his father's heart attack.

At 8:30 PM my father was being rushed to the hospital with a heart attack. By 11:30 PM he was opening his eyes in the recovery room, feeling semi-normal. The fresh stent they put in his one blocked artery got his blood flowing correctly again. And as of this afternoon, he is home and living without any restrictions.

...I know we like to trash the healthcare system here in America. But whatever system has allowed us to go from major open heart surgery to a simple, two-hour procedure, followed by joking and laughing in the recovery room and a discharge from the hospital in less than 48 hours – in less than a generation – is doing something right. And I, for one, am excited to see where it goes from here.

...For my wife and me, the best option is actually to not get insurance at all and pay the fine.

“Why,” you may ask, “would a hotshot songwriter, who has written over 20 number one songs, broken chart records and earned millions of dollars not be able to afford health insurance?”

The answer? As it turns out, that same government that messes with and tinkers around with healthcare, COMPLETELY CONTROLS my profession. The songwriting trade is the ONLY trade in American history that has always been completely regulated and controlled by Congress and the courts. And so, me and my songwriter brothers and sisters are losing income, losing houses, losing our life savings and losing our minds, because technology has blown past the government’s ability to keep up.

...And so, now I can’t afford the healthcare THEY fixed, because THEY fixed my profession. If I could tell the government one thing it would be this: PLEASE STOP FIXING THINGS.

...One day people might begin to realize that the reason the government hasn’t been able to fix their particular problem is because, well, maybe …just maybe …the government caused it in the first place. Even if they had the best of intentions.

The best thing they could do for songwriters is write a bill that says:

1. This bill nullifies all other copyright law preceding it.

2. Content creators own their work outright and have full and free rights to negotiate rates on any and all media formats.

3. We will enforce whatever agreements are entered into by all parties, provided ALL parties have been allowed to sit at the negotiation table.

Bye …we’re now out of the songwriting business!

Take it from a songwriter. We know first hand.

Read more here.