MAC_Week1_Comment2

Screen capture of Paul DeVoto's Blog Post

Paul's Text:

After watching the myriad of videos on copyright, I still have questions, and that’s just not right, man!

As an educator in today’s digital age, I want my students to engage in digital content in a way that inspires them to bring their best to the world. I want them to able to reuse, remix, and add onto inspiring media that they connect with without having to worry about legal trouble.

Watching the videos about copyright, it is clear that there needs to be a balance between remix-freedom and copyright violation. A personal example I can relate to has to do with music. My friend's band, Alma Desnuda, has music for sale through iTunes, Amazon, and other online sites. If somebody were to put one of their songs online, it would take away from valuable revenue that they need to make it. So where is the balance?

That's hard to determine, especially since some unwarranted usage can actually increase exposure and therefore awareness of your brand. An example that comes to mind is the Chris Brown song that was played for this wedding video. The wedding video actually generated a lot of buzz for that song! So by having his copy-righted music used in this way, he actually benefitted.

As many of my peers have said, it's a fascinating debate and I'm interested in seeing where it goes.

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You're right, Paul.  This week has provided me with the most comprehensive overview of issues related to copyright, and I'm still not completely comfortable. But, I think everyone needs to be in search of the sweet spot that lies between the extremes.  This year our school newspaper staff chose to begin using images with Creative Commons licenses in the publication because we don't have the man power to get all the diverse images we need. It's been a great solution.

It's interesting that you posted that wedding march video.  Based on our "reading" this week, I think that the music in that video could be defended as fair use because it might qualify as incidental music and, more importantly, without the song, the video could not have the same effect.  The music is integral to the purpose of the video.  But, the fact is we'll never know for sure unless someone takes the video creature to court.  Until then, we'll sit in the grey area and wait it out.