@TheRealPomax @Viss @molly0xfff But a “silent” performance in one movement, or four movements, would clearly not be 4′33″, not would a digital audio file consisting of a flat line be a recording of it.

With my musicologist hat on, I do agree that copyright law is often ontologically incoherent. Even so, 4′33″ is specific piece of music—one I deeply love—not a catch-all for silence. It was neither the first nor the last piece of “silent” music: see e.g. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_silent_musical_compositions