Getting Creative: New Perspectives on Music Distribution and Copyright Law
Feb 16, 2005
Stanford Law School

The Getting Creative event was a big success! Over 60 students and community members came to participate in a ground-breaking panel regarding change in the music industry and new perspectives on copyright law. Each panelist gave a short presentation and then participated in a round-table discussion spurred by student questions.

See photos of the event.

Read the original description of the event.

Audio and video coming soon.

Panelists:

Prof. Larry Lessig
Stanford University School of Law
Professor Lessig gave a presentation on "Remix Culture" and how current copyright law stifles innovation, creativity, and expression. According to Prof. Lessig, culture has always been defined by remixing disparate influences to create new products. However, modern copyright law and DRM technologies work to stifle this creativity and thus destroy culture. A new balance must be struck between protecting original artists and allowing remix expressions.

Glenn Otis Brown
Executive Director, Creative Commons
Glenn Brown gave a short presentation on the history of the Creative Commons movement, from its birth at Harvard to its current state. According to Mr. Brown, over 5 million web pages now feature a Creative Commons license. The new Firefox browser includes a built-in search tool to find Creative Commons licensed material. Creative Commons licenses allow content creators to pick and choose the rights that they want to reserve, and allow the public to make use of the others.

John Buckman
Founder and Owner, Magnatune Records
John Brown explained how it is possible to run a business and make a living using Creative Commons licensing for music. Mr. Buckman explained that Magnatune Records uses Creative Commons licensing to allow non-commercial uses of its music. This use is effectively free advertising for artists, and Mr. Buckman has observed that frequently this will lead to record sales. Mr. Buckman also explained several innovative features of the Magnatune model, including automatic licensing for use in films and other commercial uses, automated sample licensing, and free audio streaming.

David M. Given
Partner, Philips, Erlewine & Given LLP
David Given offered a perspective from "inside the trenches" of music production and distribution. In contrast to prior panelists, he works with "traditional" copyrights and license agreements for major artists and labels. According to Mr. Given, rumors of the death of copyright have been greatly exaggerated. Independent and niche-market artists can still profit under traditional licenses by running their own label and doing their own publishing. Many artists are not familiar with copyright law and wouldn't know where to begin a switch to a Creative Commons type license. Further, the structure of the industry (eg, "the book" to check licenses on any movie) is based around traditional copyright law.

Christopher Sabec
Manager and CEO, Jerry Garcia Estate LLC
Christopher Sabec offered another perspective from within the realm of traditional copyright. While the Grateful Dead released their work with an expectation that sharing would be allowed, Jerry Garcia's solo work is released under traditional copyright. This model has been very successful for the estate. However, some techniques from Magnatune (such as name-your-own-price sales) might be applicable to the Jerry Garcia situation.