The chapter “The copyright balance and the weight of DRM” from Gillespie’s book argues that copyright laws help out individuals who are trying to use an artist’s hard work. Copyright laws exists in this world so that individuals can make profits off of his/her work. He also says that these laws, however, are very difficult to enforce because it is hard to control who has access to these properties. Today’s society, however, is not perfect and many normal people illegally upload and download music, movies, and other intellectual properties
Videos on youtube is one of the prime examples of how individuals’ properties are illegally uploaded and downloaded. I believe Youtube does an excellent job on giving due credit and royalties to whom they are owed. The little pop-up messages that always show up whenever a copyrighted song is played and the how quickly Youtube takes down videos violating copyright laws, for example, show how well Youtube enforces copyright laws. On the other hand, I believe this can also have a downside because making it more difficult to access copyrighted material hinders the proliferation of upcoming artists. It makes it harder for smaller and less famous artists to become popular as people can not easily access their music.
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You did a great job of exploring what copyright laws are and how they can benefit artists within this post. However, I particularly like how you moved into how these laws can be harmful to some people such as new recording artists. These artists will likely be greatful for copyright laws in the future if they become successful and want to profit from CD sales. Right now, though, copyright laws could potentially hinder the spread of their music and prevent them from gaining maximum exposure to consumers. YouTube can still help these artists' cause by offering their songs/music videos while still making sure royalties are paid.
ReplyDeleteI like how you mention Youtube giving credit where credit is due by their use of copyright pop-up message. While I watch many videos on Youtube, and am sure that I've seen this message before, it is something I have never noticed before. While I don't necessarily feel bad about watching something that is copyright material through unauthorized means, I feel it is good that Youtube duly notes the owners of the videos.
ReplyDeleteI think the real issue with music and creative works in general, are the high prices. I find the prices of the low-quality itunes music to be an enormous rip off and definitely not worth purchasing. Since the record companies have a very large amount of control in pricing, I think they should be either weakened or removed completely; the market should open up more. Artists can find their own record companies and work out the strategy that they think works best. The record companies make way too much money and should be dis-intermediated!
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