Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Napster Business Model & Frankentoons
Author: Jeremy Bowers Posted: 6/27/2000; 4:48:28 PM Topic: Napster Business Model Msg #: 18190 (In response to 18164) Prev/Next: 18189 / 18191
No, if it's *exactly* the same peformance. The latter is the very same recording on a tribute album. It may have been cleaned up, remastered, whatever, but it's the same Patsy in the same point in time singing the same words.If it's been cleaned up or changed in any way, it's a new performance. If it is exactly the same... then what you say applies, though it still isn't of much practical use... in reality, you are paying for the media.
That's not really why I posted though. I found a site I think Dave will like, called Frankentoons.
My favorite:
These cartoons are just like performances, with the original cartoons being the originals. Assuming the editorial note on the front of the site is correct (that the Frankentoons are in fact perfectly legal), the creator, Joel Kahn, holds an independent copyright on those toons, despite the fact that the originals also have a copyright. In the music, the modified performance has its own copyright on it. These things can chain for a long way. In he case of code, they do.
Isn't this fun?
These chaining copyrights are part of the reason that the whole system may have to be thrown out to get anywhere.
There is hope though. One thing I haven't seen very often in these discussions is the revolution in music hardware that has occurred and is in no danger of slowing down. For exactly the same reasons that you can trade music without even thinking about it, it has become vastly cheaper and easier to record and manipulate work. For $5000, you can equip a recording studio that will nearly match a professional studio. As more people become able to produce and record their own music, the copyright situation will simplify, which is a start.
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