Artists divided on copyright law

Another good article in the Herald on the problems with the new copyright law.

A number of artists who are members of ARPA, are disagreeing with that body’s support for the law. This isn’t a case of artists vs users. Many from the creative sector are aghast at the new law.

It should go without saying that copyright is an important economic right. Producers of works should be able to benefit from their creations.

But the music industry’s tactics are short-sighted and counter-productive.

A couple of years ago I spoke in Hawaii at a form on intellectual property. It was to an audience that was 100% pro-IP and pro-property rights. Fellow panelists were from major drug companies, major IT companies and the like. So this was not some sort of geeky “everything should be free” gathering. Think the opposite.

What I found fascinating was the near total disdain the other intellectual property proponents had for the tactics of the music and entertainment industries. They regarded them as damaging the overall cause of respect for intellectual property rights through their efforts to criminalise half the 15 year olds in America, and boot the other half off the Internet.

Within NZ, I am told the local reps for the global entertainment industries are quite good types. The problem is they have no ability to vary the line dictated to them by the US based mutinationals.

One bright note on the copyright front, is that the White House is now licensed under Creative Commons.