Ireland’s favourite EU commissioner Charlie McCreevy is responsible for the proposal to extend EU copyright law by 45 years under the proviso of helping ’struggling session players’ to earn money when they’re old. The proposal has now passed the commission and is on the way to the parliament. What does this really mean?
Well, extending copyright under the noble cause of helping “thousands of anonymous session musicians who contributed to sound recordings in the late fifties and sixties” as McCreevy puts it, also allows record labels to live off these artists for another 45 years while simultaneously extending the barrier that legally allows creativity in the form of sampling and collage-based works. In the US, a similar law has already been passed but “fair use” can still be used as a defense for artists despite its many flaws. Think of artists like Girl Talk who would use this doctrine, if they were ever legally threatened. In the EU, we have no such provision.
Copyright law and movements like Creative Commons are something I’ve been interested in for a few years. I’m working on an article for State at the moment which talks to Girl Talk, Steinski and their label Illegal Art about copyright and sample-based works. Stay tuned.
See the reports on TorrentFreak about McCreevey’s proposal.
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
niall yeah its a facinating subject, especially with new technologies on the tinterwebs like youtube etc. the new creatives are finding new ways to express themselves, and the money grabbers are trying their hardest to make a few shillings in the process. do you know the history of the song ‘ the lion sleeps tonight’? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lion_Sleeps_Tonight#Copyright_issues
the copyright alone around that one song is mad. the documentary ‘a lions trail’ is all about it, bin wanting to see it, but cant find it anywhere:(
That’s really interesting stuff. I’ll be keeping my eye open for that article for sure.
Found this site about A Lion’s Trail >
The Trail
The link doesn’t seem to work in my previous comment.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/lionstrail/trail.html
Mahotella Queens – Mbube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GvrVIQ3QbE
cheers don- and heres the original original
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrrQT4WkbNE