In the digital age, copyright laws face a whole new set of problems. With the internet making the ability to obtain information so much easier, it also makes it much harder to control who has the ability to redistribute said information. Copyright laws are broken almost as often as traffic laws, and in that kind of environment people begin to question how the artists creating the material stand to make any money as technology progresses.
Some artists have put trust into their fans to solve this issue. Instead of attempting to restrict access to their art even further, bands like Radiohead and Issa leave their music open to download, relying on the concept that the more exposure they have, the more they'll make on tour and from other ventures. This has worked surprisingly well for them -- it seems as though people are indeed willing to pay for the material of artists who they respect, despite the fact that they aren't required to.
The idea of copyright infringement also brings back the question of where the line between stealing and inspiration lies. Many "remix artists" configure parts of copyrighted media into new forms, creating their own works of art. If these laws should become stricter and better enforced, should remixes of material also be banned? This seems like it would be a great loss of good art for the world to endure.
No comments:
Post a Comment