• by May 25, 2005

The sold-out crowd is pop-ulated with suited and business-casual indie and media types that haven't taken the time to change into their hipster threads.

The New York Public Library's stage lights seem too bright for Wilco Frontman Jeff Tweedy. Initially shifty, he seems uncertain as to how he ended up sitting on a panel with Stanford University Law Professor Lawrence Lessig dissecting the question, "Who owns culture?"

Tweedy would probably be more comfortable jamming in his pajamas, as he did at Wilco's packed New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden. But, with some gentle prodding from writer and moderator Steven Johnson, he talks about the artistic, commercial, and legal issues surrounding the Internet.

"We came about our use of the Internet with a defeatist attitude. We figured it exists, we're not going to be able to beat it," says Tweedy. The story goes that in 2001, Wilco's fourth album, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot," was rejected by Reprise, a Warner Bros.-affiliated label, only to be bought and released by Nonesuch Records, another Warner label in 2002. When Wilco lost its record deal, the album leaked, so the band posted it on its Web site. Tweedy says the only way Wilco made money then was touring, so the band wanted the songs to be familiar.

The album went on to bask in critical acclaim, and Wilco continues to use the Web for live releases, Webcasts, and Web-only eps. "Do you lose sales?" Johnson asks. "No, my experience would be the opposite," Tweedy says. "Things have only gotten better, more satisfying."

Wilco chooses to embrace new technology and let it be what it is. "It feels like an argument about a moot point," he quips. Tweedy says that the tangible aspects of an album reflect his commitment to a piece of aural art - he likes the artifact of an album: the jacket, the cd booklet. As for continuing to embrace cyberspace, "We plan on doing it as long as the Internet exists."