Are copyright laws prohibiting and limiting creativity in society? Copyright laws are so strict that many people are afraid of using their creativity of remixing. I know that when I was trying to create video projects, I did not use songs in the background from popular artists because it would have been copyright infringement even though putting it in a video would have been in my mind remixing the music. I do think that there should be copyright in music, or else artists wouldn’t be able to keep their content as their own, the way they intended it to be. However, as the author said, “In protecting RO culture, we shouldn’t kill of the potential for RW” (Lessig, 90). I don’t think using the argument that without copyright, artists wouldn’t make any money. Music artists like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson would make plenty of money without copyright because of concerts, advertisements, etc. The author states, “the most valuable contribution to our economy comes from connectivity, not content. Content is the ginger in gingerbread—important, no doubt, but nothing like the most valuable component in the mix” (Lessig, 89). The content of the music is important, but remixing the content has a huge positive impact on the economy. Many things have been remixed in order to create further advancements. The example they use in the reading is that someone created electricity, but it wasn’t of much use until someone expanded or “remixed” it to be used in computers. Remixing is a very important thing and copyright laws can limit it.
August 8, 2014 at 12:07 pm
I think you brought up an interesting financial point regarding copyright law: who does it really protect? It’s always been my understanding that concert sales and associated merchandise is where artists really make their money. After a little digging I managed to find the following article: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/07/the_root_investigates_who_really_gets_paid_in_the_music_industry.html.
Sure enough, the majority of record sales go directly to the record label and distributors, leaving only a nominal percentage left for the artist — that number divides exponentially if they didn’t write or produce the music. According to The Root, “For every $1,000 in music sold, the average artist makes $23.40” (Jefferson, 2010).
It begs the question: What is copyright law really about? Is copyright law really about protecting the artist or yet another vulgar display of big business protecting big business?
(On a personal note: I don’t think “real” artists buy into intellectual property…)
Jefferson, Cord. July 2010. The Root. [website]. Retrieved August 2014. http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2010/07/the_root_investigates_who_really_gets_paid_in_the_music_industry.html
August 8, 2014 at 7:47 pm
I think your perspective is an interesting one, but I have to ask, when you say “Music artists like Britney Spears and Michael Jackson would make plenty of money without copyright” where do you draw the line of what is considered okay use of someone’s intellectual property versus what is infringing on their rights? I agree that in remixing, especially with video projects, music is particularly difficult to work around because popular music is so engrained in our culture. It naturally fits very well into a remixed video. But where does the line get drawn, not around money, but around property? The two artists you cited are/were extremely successful, so money might not seem like a good enough reason for maintaining a copyright on their work, except that it is still their work. I don’t mean to criticize your approach, I just am curious about your perspective of about how the original artists’ rights and the creative liberty of remixing artists can be balanced.
August 8, 2014 at 10:00 pm
I totally agree with your view on this topic. I feel the same way when writing an essay or doing a writing assignment. You have to be so careful when you write because you do not want to plagiarize and when that happens you get in trouble. In writing essays teachers say to use your own words. But your words are based of the ideas of someone else. Do you consider that plagiarism? I look at essays 85 percent the ideas of someone else and 15 percent your inputs on those ideas.
August 11, 2014 at 9:36 am
You make a good point about the restrictions of copyright laws and how they sometimes hinder the world of creativity. One thing I think that needs to be remembered is the fact that many of these laws are in place to protect the original owner. Many of these companies put millions of dollars into creating that original music, and then if they want to be able to do so again in the future they have to make money. While it is easy to point to people like Michael Jackson as making all this money, the reality is his works creates jobs with that money. There is a fine line that needs to be walked and in order to do so we must look at both sides of the argument.