Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2011 - (Page 26)

A Criminals Interview with Kembrew McLeod Why do we have copyright law in the first place? The United States was the first country to write copyright law into its Constitution. The founding fathers included a provision for copyright and patent because we were a brand new country with few resources and no native culture. They wanted to create a law that would encourage people to produce books and maps and similar materials. The idea behind copyright is that it provides an incentive to authors and creators to put new stuff out into the world. But the founding fathers also agreed that a copyright could only last for a limited time. That was the key part. The first copyright law stated that after 14 years, a work would go into the public domain, that vast reservoir of books and songs and other similar materials that anyone can use in whatever way they want because the copyright on these works has expired. But since the law was first written, the term of copyright has been extended way beyond the spirit of what the founding fathers intended. Over the course of the 20th century, the movie, music, and entertainment industries convinced the U.S. Congress to draft various extensions to the length of copyright. Now, a work stays under copyright for the entire life of the author plus 70 years. While this extension may have appeased the industries’ stockholders, it contradicts the original intention of the law and undermines the spirit of the public domain. Generat by Angela Balcita As an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa, Kembrew McLeod focuses on popular music and its intersection with artistic expression and intellectual property. In his documentary, Copyright Criminals, McLeod examines the history of musical sampling and remixing culture. He spoke with Imagine about how musicians and music lovers stand in danger of violating the law, and how he may not be so innocent himself. copyright lawsuits. Back in the early 20th century, record companies were the original copyright pirates. They were recording performances of people’s songs and putting them onto records without asking for permission from the original artists. These battles go back for years. Perhaps more than the phonograph and the emerging record industry, it was the player piano that prompted the earliest and most significant change to copyright law. These mechanical pianos, which played music using pre-programmed perforated paper rolls, were basically like gigantic analog mp3 players; the paper rolls containing musical data were like mp3 files. This new technology raised fear among those in the music industry, who worried that self-playing pianos would eliminate the need for musicians. In 1908, the U.S. Supreme Court sided with the player piano industry, saying that player piano music rolls were not illegal. Then, Congress passed the 1909 Copyright Act, which legalized the practice of re-recording, or covering, someone else’s song. By issuing a compulsory license, the government sets the cost per copy that companies need to pay to distribute a song. A few years later, radio emerged as the latest pirate in the history of new media technology, breaking copyright law because they were playing songs owned by someone else. Again, a license was created that made it legal for radio stations to play other people’s songs without any trouble. Digital technologies—like computers, digital samplers, and the Internet—are exceptions to this history. The laws have not changed to acknowledge these new technologies. How has copyright law changed to stay up to date with advances in musical technology? The history of media and new technologies is littered with 26 imagine May/Jun 2011

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2011

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2011
Contents
Big Picture
In My Own Words
App Quest
Become a Citizen Scientist with Your Cell Phone
Media Arts and Technology at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards
The Accidental Animator
The New Media Explorers
Learning by Design
A Generation of Criminals
Digital Storytelling
Drama and Duct Tape
Selected Opportunities & Resources
Off the Shelf
Word Wise
Exploring Career Options
One Step Ahead
Planning Ahead for College
Students Review
Creative Minds Imagine
Mark Your Calendar
Knossos Games

Imagine Magazine - Johns Hopkins - May/June 2011