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JustinColanninoFirstPaper 16 - 11 Mar 2009 - Main.DanielHarris
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Does Copyright Deter Social Movements? | | | I've noted to Justin offline that the weakest part of his argument is that he hasn't quite proved his point that music, particularly familiar music, which draws on lyrical or musical themes recognizable to a population, can be an agent for social change. If you spend your Friday nights like I sometimes do, hanging out at Woody Guthrie sing-a-longs (or, if, like Justin, your wife is the archivist at the Woody Guthrie Foundation's archives), that point is evident; knowing about black slave songs, the folk movement and other rebellions and revolutions based around music is what enables one to accept the second part of the argument. But if you don't know, then it's easy, I think, to miss the subtler point, which is that part of the success of early social and musical social movements is owed to the less restrictive copyright, particularly in terms of length (see my comment above). They were able to access the familiar, to speak to people in a language they understood, and their movements were able to succeed thereby. In a world where that doesn't happen because of copyright, there is an inhibition on social movements, both nascent and existent, an inhibition which doesn't depend on a few nefarious copyright owners clumsily trying to put down change.
-- DanaDelger - 11 Mar 2009 | |
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Admittedly, I was being a little devilish in my advocacy -- arguing for ASCAP is not my normal role in life, and I'm more comfortable with Guthrie's copyright notices. I was just objecting to the implication that copyright law as it stands can be an impediment to protesters singing songs in "meatspace"--this is an overreach and weakens the other valuable points to be made here. I agree that an emphasis on the changing nature of social movements and how they fall out of the exceptions set out in the Act (including the not-quite-as-cutting-edge but still relevant issue of documentaries) would be a good way to shore this up.
I blame being tired for not thinking of the Soulja Boy teaching example: the youtubing of the public square obviously does threaten teaching by video recording. This isn't new--you might get a takedown for teaching the Macarena on public access cable, if anyone lawyerly were to watch--but more people have the opportunity to infringe (if not under fair use) with Youtube. This implicates a few things: the common problem of the Act's failure to adapt to digital media and the need for "reproduction" of a digital work to experience it, the possible net-video-enhanced transformation of social communication from synchronous to asynchronous communication, AND "those infernal machines" Lessig likes to remind us about Sousa's predicting would lead to the destruction of music.
Dana, I completely agree re: the shrinking of the public domain via term consolidation and extension. I am a bit wary, though, of the chilling effect arguments as applied to the copyright law itself: I don't want to blame the copyright statute (with the possible exception of the potentially ridiculous statutory damages) for overzealous attorneys' going beyond it. It seems to me that the GS should fall under 110(4)(B) -- if we treat the demand for licensing as a notice of disapproval under that section, I am tempted to say that the press will sort things out. Less-connected camps have the advantage of being small enough to be less noticeable and not really worth bugging--and even they can generate a local outcry sufficient to enrage a representative. I doubt (but welcome anecdotes) that any social move-rs are scrapping their plans to fight for justice out of fear of copyright, or even consulting a lawyer (much less receiving counsel) about the copyright consequences of appropriating popular culture.
-- DanielHarris - 11 Mar 2009 | | | |
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