After watching the video Copyright Criminals, I have come to understand that the copyright law is working for and against music makers (and for artists, writers, etc). Based on what I understood from the video, today’s music makers have the problem of protecting what they create and also having the freedom to create. For instance, there are music artists who create something original and would like to protect their work for whatever reason (from illegal distribution, profit, etc). By law, these artists have the right to protect their works. But then, you have music artists who create something original by using samples from other music, and also wanting to protect their original creations.
I have an understanding now as to why some people would like the copyright laws to be less stringent. The copyright law, though it protects original works, also destroys the creativity of future, original works. I am an artist and I have learned to draw by watching animated films, such as Balto (1):
Would it be fair if I could not create an original character based off some elements of the Balto character design? I learned a lot about drawing animals from this film and it would definitely stop my ability to create new works if I had to pay Universal a boat-load of money in order to use their property for me to learn. Many music artists are asking the same thing for when it comes to creating original works.
Unfortunately, people, including myself, cannot magically change the copyright law. Though people do stay on the good side of the law, either by asking permission (and maybe paying) to use copyrighted work or giving credit to the creator, there will always be those who will create what they feel they need to create, using any material they see fit, regardless of the law. I don’t think these people are necessarily bad, but it does show that for creativity to flourish, people need to be influenced by what came before them so they can create something new to be cherished by those after them .
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(1) SweetFurAmy. Balto Trailer. Online Video. 2 mins 13 secs. 27 May 2007.