This is a good question...

From the Guardian:

As NME editor Conor McNicholas pointed out on Radio 4's Todayprogramme this morning, the 'capturing' of music within pieces of plastic is a relatively recent phenomenon. For centuries, music existed only in the ether, shared vocally between people and only paid for through performances. What these companies are protecting is not the music, but the business model around the music.

The question: does copyright protection for music actually produce better music today actually improved it (we can assume that widespread distribution costs are now zero, so there's no need to protect that)?