I find the issues surrounding copyright law fascinating. I am particularly interested because much of my career revolves around these laws. As a professional choreographer, my own intellectual property is protected but I run into massive risks when using music to accompany my work. Trying to publish or share my work is impossible without original music, which is unaffordable in most cases. The video “Good Copy, Bad Copy” was eye-opening. I am extremely baffled by how so many artists are able to produce work that is technically infringing on copyright. It sounds like all remixes and remakes of songs are stealing intellectual property. Copyright law is a jumble of pitfalls and loopholes. In order to pay artists for their work, all 3000 songs on my iPod have been purchased on hardcopy or through iTunes, but I have on many occasions used the work of artists as accompaniment for my work which is technically a no-no.
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Melissa, I appreciate your candid and personal view on copyright. There are many people who share your situation. Where their art is reliant on someone else's creation. Unless you are a famous choreographer, it is impossible to pay the required fees for original music. Yet, without your interpretation through dance how many young people wouldn't learn? I find the copyright laws very perplexing. I agree artist need and should be protected. Yet, how could you help not being influenced and inspired by the art to create something else? Does the new art, even in another medium, then become the property of the first artist? Perplexing is a great word to describe copyright law!
ReplyDeleteMelissa...
ReplyDeleteI understand your concern over copyright issues with the music you select for your dance shows. I face the same issues when I select material for my speech team members to perform. As we take 8-10 minute cuttings from longer length literature, we are always in fear of some author coming back at us for changing his intent by our adaptation, or just because we performed his selection without permission. It is even more of a challenge due to the publication of so much material on the internet.
I think of George Harrison losing in court for "stealing" the melody of "My Sweet Lord" and how ridiculous it seemed to me at the time. At some point, every conceivable way to arrange notes will be used; will that be the end of new music?
You really hit the nail on the head with your term "perplexing." It really is!
It is such a difficult thing to manage and especially for you because one would think that choreography is directly connected to specific music. I mentioned before that I did a "music video" that was a collection of photographic stills from a series of concerts I'd attended that particular summer and set the still to the music of those artists and for a while the video was posted on Youtube and completely ignored. Then I got a notice that Warner Brothers was claiming that I was using their music and Youtube gave me the option to either pull the video or replace the music with royalty-free music from their catalog. Yeah, I could see the point of having photos from concerts by Alanis Morissette, Melissa Etheridge and Pat Benatar with music from some independent folk artist playing in the background. So, I pulled the video down. Ack. I cannot image how tough it must be create new choreography and separate it out from a piece of music. Crazy.
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