Copyright: Why Should You Care?

Musicians are creators and copyright law says that creators have a right to gain economic value from their creation. For example, if you write a song, you can charge money to let a movie studio or a TV station use your song in their sound track. The law gives these rights as an incentive for creation. It is thought that when creativity is encouraged, the public will be benefited because more art will be available to the public.

Music Licensing

Digital technology has dramatically changed, methods of recording, distributing, performing, selling and listening to music and blurred lines between the different rights that constituted copyright. It has spurred new entrants into the market. These services are demanding rights licensing on a scale never seen before. However, the law and the institutions that have developed around music licensing are not equipped to deal with these new services. Legislative changes in response to the changing marketplace have so far been piecemeal.

Sampling

Copyright law gives creators an immense amount of control over how their works are used. At the same time, the law also aims to promote creative follow-on uses, because such uses enhance culture by contributing to the dialogue surrounding the original work. Music sampling is one example of just such a follow-on use. The practice is prevalent in hip-hop, where referencing and recontextualizing other works is central to the creative process.

Alternative Methods of Distribution and Net Neutrality

For the past 30 years, professional musicians have relied heavily on record labels to promote and distribute their music. However, in dealing with major labels, artists are often forced to sign one-sided contracts that confer very little benefit to them relative to long-term costs. With the consolidation of radio stations and the payola scandals of the 1990s, the gap between major label and independent label artists widened further, with unsigned and ‘indie’ artists increasingly shut out of radio airplay.

Remedies

When a copyright is infringed, the law provides the copyright owner with effective means to enforce her rights, including money damages and injunctive relief. In addition, the law backs up technological self-help measures such as digital locks used by the copyright owner with sanctions for circumventing these locks.

Device Makers and Copyright Infringement

Ever since the advent of the printing press, technology has affected the distribution and use of creative works. Because of this, technology has always had an impact on copyright law. New technologies usually increase the number of ways that users can exploit works and thereby decrease the control that the copyright owner has over every use of his work. In the music industry, these “new” technologies have included player pianos, broadcast radio, recordable cassette tapes, digital audiotapes, CD-Rs, and P2P file sharing technologies.

Internet Service Providers and Copyright Infringement

The Internet allows for the creation and distribution of music in ways never thought possible before. More and more ordinary citizens are mashing up digital music and videos or creating their own works and publishing them online. At the same time, copyrigthed content is being exchanged on the Internet without authorization from rights holders. Because of this, many content holders would like Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to bear some responsibility for copyright infringement.

The P2P Wars

The emergence of P2P technologies in the early 2000s led to changes in both the law and how it is enforced. P2P technology allows individuals to connect directly with other individuals’ machines for the purpose of swapping files. Users who download and install P2P applications can share music, movies or any other files present on their hard drives. Although P2P technologies have become notorious as tools for copyright infringement, using a P2P network to share music with the authorization of the copyright owner is legal.

Going Beyond Copyright – DRM and Tech Mandates

Digital technology has been a great boon for artists allowing them to break free from the stranglehold of traditional models of distribution. But many content owners are concerned that this technology may be used as a tool for infringement. To counter this perceived threat, copyright owners have turned to technological means to prevent the recording and transfer of digital content. However, these means operate outside the confines of traditional copyright law, thereby bypassing doctrines such as fair use which are central to copyright law.

Orphan Works

“Orphan Works” are copyrighted works — books, music, records, films, etc — whose owner cannot be located. Works can become “orphaned” for a number of reasons: the owner did not register the work, the owner sold rights in the work and did not register the transfer, the owner died and his heirs cannot be found … the list goes on. Very often, orphan works become obscure no matter how valuable the material contained in them may be. No future artist is willing to use the orphan work for fear that he will have to pay a huge amount of money in damages if the owner emerges.