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Simply put, “fair use” is a legal principle that allows copyrighted material to be used without permission from or payment to the owner. But a recent symposium on the subject at New York University demonstrated just how difficult it is to know what constitutes fair. And in the meantime, many creative types are left in the lurch. Amy Sewell, producer of the documentary "Mad Hot Ballroom", shares some war stories with Brooke.
Technology is now in development to encode music with what’s known as "broadcast flags" – encryption embedded in HD radios that allows users to amass a library of downloaded songs while preventing those songs from circulating, so to speak. A bill endorsed by the Recording Industry Association of America has been introduced to make flag technology mandatory for all HD and satellite radios. Gigi Sohn, of the public-interest group Public Knowledge, explains her objections to Bob.
Music has always been part of a soldiers' life in wartime, from the fife and drums of the Revolution to the rock and roll of Vietnam. Soldiers have made their own contributions over the years, and those serving in Iraq are no different. This time though, it's coming directly from the war zone. Brooke speaks with Sergeant Neal Saunders, who constructed his own studio and produced a brutally honest hip hop album while stationed in Sadr City, Baghdad.
The recording industry is hurting. And what began as a bit of malaise in the early days of Napster is beginning to look like a chronic wasting disease. Forrester Research media analyst Josh Bernoff says that the music business is responding to its dire straits just as a person would - with denial, anger, depression and only then, acceptance. Bernoff explains to Bob what the media industry can learn from the fate of big music.
Hip hop mixtapes began as documents of street parties in 1970’s New York. Over time, they evolved, making use of unreleased music, sometimes leaked by the music industry itself, to keep fans ahead of the mainstream and build street buzz for new songs and new artists. But as a result mixtapes occupy a shadowy realm very close to the industry - approved piracy – and present an uneasy contradiction for a business on a high horse about music theft. Brooke speaks with journalist Oliver Wang about mixtape culture.
Music has always been part of a soldiers’ life in wartime, from the fife and drums of the Revolution to the rock and roll of Vietnam. Soldiers have made their own contributions over the years, and those serving in Iraq are no different. This time though, it’s coming directly from the war zone. Brooke speaks with Sergeant Neal Saunders, who constructed his own studio and produced a brutally honest hip hop album while stationed in Sadr City, Baghdad.
The sharing of media content and infrastructure was a theme in two Supreme Court decisions handed down this week. In the Grokster case, the Court ruled against peer-to-peer sharers, saying software makers can be held liable for copyright infringement by their users. Sharing was also nixed in the Brand X decision, in which the Court effectively ruled that cable companies don't have to share their lines with independent Internet providers. Brooke parses the decisions with University of Pittsburgh law professor Michael Madison.
Rock & roll was once the music of rebellion and the currency of youth. Eventually, that youth grew up and became music critics. Today's critics of yesterday's bands might be accused of being driven more by sentimentality then by quality. But as WNYC's Brian Wise reports, concerns about nostalgia may be the least of the problems for aging rock critics, some of whom are losing their jobs for losing touch with what the kids want. ARTIST: Powderfinger TRACK: The Day You Come ALBUM: Internationalist LABEL: Polygram ARTIST: The Who TRACK: My Generation ALBUM: My Generation LABEL: MCA
