Berkeley Law distinguished professor Pamela Samuelson have released a report today on changes which a “group of leading experts on copyright law and policy” believes should be made to the U.S. Copyright laws. The report is 68 pages long and can be found here http://www.law.berkeley.edu/files/bclt_CPP.pdf. “The report intelligently informs the copyright debate, and the identification and discussion of issues is well done and important,” said Marybeth Peters, the head of the U.S. Copyright Office. “The recommendations are thoughtful, and in many cases, I support them. This entire project significantly reinvigorates efforts to bring the copyright law up-to-date, either incrementally or as a major revision.”
Some of the thinking is that the law needs to change to let consumers do more with copyrighted material as fair use (you know for mash-ups etc.) knowing that they are safe. Don Henley doesn’t think so and that’s why he “hates YouTube.” http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20100805/15015310512.shtml
These debates are FAR from over, because: (a) the music industry monetization model is just broken; (b) you can’t legally prohibit acts which can not or will not be enforced, and; (c) the law must track with technology or at least try to have the least amount of lag time as the government can handle. Remember, governments act slowly and always politically.
The bottom line is that artists (especially indie or new artists) HAVE to think about how their music will be monetized not just now but in the future and make certain that their licensing and recording deals TAKE THIS INTO ACCOUNT.
