Professor Ribstein notes an interesting development in the entertainment business, where creative financial types are securitizing revenue streams from artists’ work into financial instruments such as “Bowie Bonds,” which are then sold to investors to provide an income source for the artists and their recording studios. Given the revenue loss that some artists and record companies have incurred as a result of illegal downloads, Larry notes the sweet irony of capitalists rescuing “the artists from the non-respecters of property rights.”
Unfortunately, this creativity will only last until the government figures out what is really going on and puts a stop to it.