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10-06-06, 05:40 PM | #1 |
Madame Comrade
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What if Swedish artists were allowed to sample freely?
In the light of the recent Swedish developments it is a conceivable possibility that the Swedish musicians might get soon a permission to sample freely whatever they want to their creative works. While we don't know how likely this is, it is a possibility. Let's play a little with it.
A Swedish composer could sample say any fresh American big label music and use it as a material in her new original work of art. In Sweden her composition would be fully legal and she would not have to fear about being harassed or going bankrupt because of the samples she used. Would her art be fully legal also in America? If not, at which point of a p2p delivery would it change from legal to illegal? And what do you think - would a Swedish composer have an artistic advantage over her American colleagues if she could freely utilize modern commercial audio material in her works?
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10-06-06, 06:40 PM | #2 |
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i'm not clear why this might prove advantageous to a swedish artist vis-a-vis her american counterpart per-se, since artists are generally free to incorporate whatever they feel like incorporating in their work. the advantage such as it is would occur primarily when said artist proceeds to sell multiple copies of "her" works, and that rarely happens without the aid of a large recording and distributing syndicate, even now in 2006. so i guess we're talking about the advantage a swedish record company would have in profiting from works they didn't invest in, that were (to some degree or another) created by an outside artist and sold without compensation. under those circumstances the swedish record company could do quite well i'm sure. i could see record company business models that encourage the quick packaging of swedish pop bands to clone and sell american hits, that wind up making lots of fast money. i'm just not sure i'm entirely comfortable with such a development.
conversely if we reach some sort of tipping point where ip policy becomes so eviscerated that nobody sells records anymore and all this stuff is pumped out for nothing, in order to rotate turnstiles at concert venues or something promotional like that, then yeah, anyone who could freely and quickly incorporate the latest microtrends in music without having to worry about any plagiarism blowbacks might have an advantage over somebody who didn't...perhaps. it's just that in such a scenario as described above the american band, being the one who did it first would i think have the advantage of freshness, and would gain the most because of it, in international competitions for audiences such as roskilde at least. so ultimately, "firstness," if not actual originality might still command a premium, and the commercial, if not the artistic advantage. - js. |
10-06-06, 08:07 PM | #3 | |
Madame Comrade
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10-06-06, 09:15 PM | #4 | |
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i'm a dj. i can play shows all night long, no problem, but i can't sell copies of those shows if they contain copyrighted material and of course they're stuffed with it. people try to pay me for copies and i have to turn them down, it’s too bad. even there if i pushed it i might be able to work out a deal and get the proper licenses…who knows? but it never affects my primary work. it’s true that most people can’t groove to mr. spratts when he’s soaking in the bath and it’s their loss certainly. he has to be there live – but – if it’s live, there’s nothing stopping him from mashing up the entire riaa catalog should he feel like it. so it shouldn't stop her from creating either. or i should add, necessarily. you never know what'll stop somebody from working. but yeah, it could sure stop her from reproducing. - js. |
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11-06-06, 08:29 AM | #5 |
Earthbound misfit
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Realistically, will copyright be completly removed from Sweedish law, or will they simply reduce the copyright terms and infringement penalties?
Sweden is a signatory to four international copyright treaties, including the Berne convention and the Rome convention. These treaties require a term of protection lasting for at least lifetime of the author, producer, or performer of the recording plus 50 years, but they give Sweden the ability to make exceptions for specific uses of copyrighted material. If the Swedes want to change their law to give citizens the right to sample copyrighted songs for commercial use then they may do so, but that exception will not extend beyond Sweden's borders. To my knowledge there are no compulsory licensing laws that apply to music samples, so I would expect that if such a compilation as you're describing were to be produced in Sweden and published abroad that the producer of that mash-up would be legally liable in the other countries that have signed those treaties. And should she visit one of those nations she would be subject to arrest and trial for her crimes, such as happened to Dmitry Sklyarov when he visited the United States. Furthermore, these other nations might decide to censor the mash-up and bar it from sale or broadcast until the proper license fees are paid. |
11-06-06, 11:41 AM | #6 | |
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I was also under the impression that the US had extended copyright on music to 75 years after death... prolly cuz Elvis' estate isn't rich enough yet |
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11-06-06, 07:55 PM | #7 | |||
Madame Comrade
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Say we have a hypothetical Swedish composer Lena Svensson who has a fascination for modern soundworlds. She has already used all sorts of modern sounds in her critically acclaimed sound collages and welcomes the new more liberal law that finally gives her legal access also to use modern music recordings as one of the brushes in her audio palette. As she makes part of her living selling signed copies of her self-released albums to her fans, she decides to respect the 5 year protection time, just in case. Then she starts to work on and release all sorts of fancy sound collages with musical elements sampled from anything released anywhere up to year 2001. Audience receives her works well, enjoying the smart way she references modern pop culture with actual samples from well-known contemporary works. And so she gets not only more fans but also musical followers, giving birth to a new subgenre of electronic music known as 'Free Swedish'. In February 2007 TV5, the French culture channel, would award her with a prize for the best album of the year. Would TV5 be able to play her album? Would she risk being arrested if she went to Paris to pick up her prize? Further... Say we have a hypotethical American composer Jack Jazzy who likes obscure Scandinavian stuff and has downloaded all Lena Svensson's albums from Pirate Bay. Lena Svensson released all her albums under a Creative Commons license in Sweden and put them up on Pirate Bay herself for anybody to take. Did Jack commit a crime by downloading them? Jack as a composer immediately falls in love with the 'Free Swedish' style and decides to compose some 'Free Swedish' himself. And so he comes up with a great new album of that genre. Would there be any place on the planet where he could release the album without having to fear about the consequences?
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12-06-06, 07:06 AM | #8 | ||
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I disagree... I'm sitting on tunes up to a decade old, and they are not limited by their style, and they haven't been made commercially available. There is a massive difference between 5 years from completion to 70 years after death. The 70 years after death is like a 'just in case' clause... if some guy dies at 30 surely his family should be able to get some benefit from his work if it is commercially successful after his death? If not I feel you're really opening the floodgates to some very seedy and unfair business practices. Anyway, there are plenty of examples of music making far more money a number of years after release. I can think of two off the top of my head straight away... Clash - Should I Stay Or Should I Go... David Bowie - Space Oddity. Both of these examples are more than 5 years too... the Bowie tune was 6, the Clash one was something like 16. Dunno where u quoted that from TG, but it is bollocks Quote:
This doesn't happen with pop music generally because the licences would cost more than you would ever make, but certainly in the world of house and techno music it happens. Also depends how much money you're trying to make out of it... there isn't much to stop u gigging to 300 people and selling ur own mix cds... it's unlikely you'd be caught if u were smart enough. |
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12-06-06, 08:18 AM | #9 | |
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13-06-06, 06:01 AM | #10 | |
Madame Comrade
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A coalition representing over 500 Canadian artists has now also raised its voice in an open letter demanding better access to contemporary works of art in order to use them as raw material for new art.
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