Blog #6 Important takeaways

Given the readings, I think that one of the most important takeaways is the concept of free vs. fair culture.  Copyright and fair use are really confusing subjects. The issues involving these two concepts can be puzzling, obscure or vague at times. Many people in the world think that if something is available for use on the internet, not used by anyone to make a profit, or out of print, then it is alright to use it and manipulate it in any way they want to. On the contrary, sometimes people think that they cannot use any copyrighted works at all without the permission of the original author, artist or producer. Neither of these points of view are correct. However, an increasing number of people want to provide others with the right to use their own work without being charged or having to get permission. So the question that is begged here is: When is it ok to use material that is not our own original work? For some people, the answer is never. Some artists never want their work to be built upon; and others consider it a tribute of sorts and allow it as long as they are credited properly. I believe that in any case, crediting the originator is a must. You can completely transform a song or the plot line of a movie to make it look nothing like the original; but in the end, the credit must be given to the person (or people) you got your crazy idea from. 

When if all information was free? Think about it! Everything that a person can search or create…absolutely free of charge; with no repercussions. I think that the world would go nuts; wouldn't you? Especially if everyone gave up on copyright in today's age; no one would have rights to anything. Whatever your neighbor can create is yours and whatever you can create belongs to your neighbor. That doesn't seem fair, right? What is the point of making something new if it's just going to be remixed the next day and stolen right out of your hands? A comment from the  "Does Information Really Want to be Free?" article said, "Culture is a dynamic process. It should not be fossilized with rigidly enforced rules about what is and what is not permissible" (Christen, [Auldclootie], 2012). Remix culture is a very sensitive subject being that there are TONS of DJs who create mash-ups sampling from several musical artists. However, I personally have never seen a mash-up with a song that wasn't credited to the proper artist. So is the dance music industry finally becoming a calm venue where you can use any song in your mash-up? Or will there be a random point in time where someone's going to stop the creator from creating. There has to be multiple creators. If one person makes something and no one else was able to build off of it, then what would our culture be? The truth is this: WE WOULD HAVE NO CULTURE! There wouldn't be anything to look back on. The original artists wouldn't be given tributes if there were not remixes and mash-ups of their songs. The fact that remixers credit the original artist keeps the original creation at bay. On the other hand, if everything was a free-for-all, the originator would soon be forgotten. There would be no original creator and all of us would be "fake."

What would the culture of the future look like if we continued to use music in the same was we do and remix in the same way every time? How would today's age be different if we still had to deal with copyright problems from the past? These are excellent questions to ponder. The concept of culture is what stuck with me throughout the whole semester. Culture doesn't have to be  music; it's movies, standard customs, books, papers, photos and other types of multimedia. After watching the "RIP a remix manifesto," I was even motivated to go out and remix something; because I can! 

The video below explains why the code for fair use in online video got created, and how the code can help you create online videos that illustrate fair use of copyrighted material.