Music Think Tank has put up an interesting article on Copyright vs. Culture.
Quoting from the article: In the case of the written word, it is possible to draw inspiration (and characters) from multiple sources and to bring those characters together in a new context to reveal new truths (or at least discussions) about the human condition, but when this is attempted with musical materials (such as Danger Mouse’s The Gray Album), the music industry demands no less than total destruction of all such works.
The author argues that the current state of copyright law in the music industry is stifling artistic expression and will impact our cultural growth. It’s an interesting perspective and one I agree with. While total replication of a work clearly should involve some kind of royalty payment I think the art of a “mash-up” or other transformation should fall into an acceptable use category. In an age where so much music is available I think it is impossible to enforce an exclusive copyright law to the fullest extent, there is bound to be replication in produced music and referenced influences.
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