The videos and discussion at the brownbag today led to the common problem copyright causes today: diminishing creativity. Professor Sikand explained and showed many examples where creativity is stifled by copyright. Its sad to know that many producers and directors cannot begin their career because of the initial costs due to copyright. Theres much less incentive to become a movie director when your first film costs thousands in copyright compensation. This brings me back to Vaidhyanathan’s quotation that copyright “rewards the established at the expense of the emerging.” What was most interesting to me was how rebellious directors become because of these laws. Professor Sikand seems like a professor that would normally obey rules and laws, but when it comes to copyright she embodies the quotation: “its better to ask for forgiveness than permission.” Her justification for this mindset is legitimate: If you ask for permission, the owners expect that you have money to pay for their work; on the other hand, if you just use the work and ask for forgiveness, you can be viewed as an innocent, destitute producer trying to make a living.
The website she showed us is very detailed and up to date in the laws of fair use with regards to social media. It explains the rules and even gives tips on what steps to take if one of your works is in violation of fair use.
The glimmer of hope from Professor Sikand was her explanation of the site for free music. With our counter argument to copyright being exposure, im glad that this site is in existence. I thought it would be slightly difficult to find this type of website, but once I looked up “free music for exposure” in google, the first 3 websites were Noise Trade, Ustream, and NumberOneMusic; all of which were created to share music in hopes to promote emerging artists.
it’s a shame that copyright laws prevent the creativity of some filmmakers and prevent important stories from being told. luckily, she also mentioned a positive which was that many musicians put their work on certain websites which allow their music to be used without permission. all one has to do is credit them.
It is sad that copyright laws seem to be turning us into “criminals.” As professor Sikand mentioned, just using a song and hoping you don’t get caught or hoping if you do get caught they realize that you aren’t worth enough to be sued has become a common thing. Also, through the example in class with the singing group expecting to be paid $88 for use to the DVD, obviously no one is going to pay that, because how are they going to find out? So, these copyright laws aren’t really doing anything except turning us into criminals for ridiculous reasons.