On April 7, Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will join Stanford University law professor Lawrence Lessig in, "Who Owns Culture?" a discussion at the New York Public Library regarding the artistic, commercial and legal issues surrounding "the Internet-enabled freeing of culture." Wired Magazine contributing editor Steven Johnson will moderate.

Discussions regarding internet downloading have typically been defined (thanks to the RIAA) in black and white, good v. evil terms with no consideration of the individual's motivations for downloading or why downloading and streaming may be beneficial for artists. In this discussion, Tweedy will speak to the reasons why Wilco and their label, Nonesuch Records, believe sharing new and live recordings on wilcoworld.net sets the stage for a mutually beneficial relationship with their fans -- a relationship which fosters creativity while preserving the band's artistic rights. Tweedy will speak for the silent majority of artists who build their careers on internet downloading and disagree with the RIAA's hard-line, major label driven stance. In Tweedy's view,

"[a] piece of art is not a loaf of bread. When someone steals a loaf of bread from the store, that's it. The loaf of bread is gone. When someone downloads a piece of music, it's just data until the listener puts that music back together with their own ears, their mind, their subjective experience."

Lessig has one of the most impressive legal CV's I've ever seen. Wired's Steven Levy refers to him as "the Elvis of cyberlaw," and a once "right-wing lunatic," turned "fire-breathing defender of Net values." He also has a nifty blog, which is an invaluable resource of knowledge for copyright holders.

Tickets for the event go on sale March 17 at 10:00 am through Smarttix and are $10.00 for General Admission and $7.00 for Library Members.