Copyright laughs

Here are a couple of comic strips about copyright law - hope you find them funny. They come from the Mimi and Eunice website which is available here.

Happy Holidays

I'm taking a couple of weeks off from blogging while I share the festive season with my family. Thanks for all the comments and for reading my blog this year. I hope next year we see some more changes in the digital music industry including a move away from litigating individuals and new technology developers. Drive safe if you are traveling this time of year and have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

Sally

HTH Grant

The HilltopHoods in conjunction with APRA and AMCOS have just announced the opening of their grant program for 2011. Hip hop artists that have not released a record professionally are entitled to apply for the grant. Winners will be given $10,000 worth of support in the recording of an album. Applications open 17th December 2010 and close 22 February 2011 with the winner announced in March 2011.

Further Reading
APRA/AMCOS, Hilltop Hoods and APRA Support Hip Hop (16 December 2010) <http://www.apra-amcos.com.au/news/allnews/HilltopHoodsandAPRAsupportHipHop.aspx > at 16 December 2010

ACMA and the need for Copyright Reform

The recent ACMA report on the usage of the internet by Australian citizens also details uses of the internet other than entertainment and amusement – these are the uses that are put at risk from a three strikes or graduated response scheme [at pg 15]:

79% Communication – email, instant messaging, VOIP
61% General browsing/surfing
75% Research and information
35% Blogs and online communities
64% Banking and finance
28% Buying/selling/shopping
26% Interactive – enter competitions/register on website

The internet has clearly become a significant part of the everyday lives of Australians and while at this stage there has been no overt support for a three strikes policy one wonders sometimes if these politicians read their own research. The Greens have indicated a willingness to review the Copyright Act and the Australian Attorney General has also noted the need for reform. As the Australian Copyright Council reported in October of this year:

Under the heading “Cleaning Up Copyright”, the arts policy released by the Greens just prior to the recent election stated: “Our copyright system is struggling to keep pace with the times. A system that is meant to be about nurturing creativity by rewarding it is at risk of stifling such creativity in complexity. At the same time we need to recognise that copyright protects the intellectual property of an artist and provides an important income stream. We need a copyright structure which rewards creators while respecting fair use and avoiding administrative complexities. “There may be no need for wholesale change but it will certainly require political engagement for any kind of reform to take place.”

Lets hope that when it does come time for considering alternatives to the current system that the major parties do not head the same road as New Zealand and France with a three strikes scheme. Much of, what is now, everyday activities for Australians could be at risk if they take the short sighted path of a graduated response scheme. Reform is absolutely needed its just a matter of which direction they intend to take.

Further Reading
Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australia in the digital economy: the shift to the online environment (November 2010) <http://www.apo.org.au/research/australia-digital-economy-shift-online-environment> at 1 December 2010

Australian Copyright Council, The Attorney General and the greens put copyright reform on the agenda <http://www.copyright.org.au/news-and-policy/details/id/1832/> (29 October 2010) at 1 December 2010

ACMA where its at...

A new report was recently released by the Australian Communications and Media Authority in which statistics are presented relating to the use of the internet by Australian citizens. Interesting results as at June 2010 include the following:

• 77% of Australians have an internet connection at home [pg6]
  
• 66% of Australian home internet connections are for broadband [pg6]
• the total number of broadband subscriptions is 8,768,000 [pg8]
• the total number of internet subscribers is 9,569,000 [pg8]
• 55% of users are online for an hour or more per day on average [pg12]
• 28% of users are online for 15 hours or more per week [pg12]
• 48% of people over the age of 14 yrs use the internet for entertainment or amusement [pg15]
  
• the use of the internet for entertainment or amusement includes 82% of 14 - 17 yr olds; 70% of 18-24 yr olds; 58% of 25-34 yr olds; 45% of 35-44 yr olds; 35% of 45 -54 yr olds; 32% of 55-64 yr olds; and 28% of those aged 65 and over. [pg16]
  
• for entertainment or amusement purposes: 41% played games; 39% downloaded music; 36% streamed videos; 23% downloaded video clips; 18% downloaded pictures; 17% downloaded games; and a further 13% uploaded photos to photo sharing websites [pg19]

This presents an interesting perspective of the use of the internet in Australia at the moment. With over eight million broadband connections an alternative compensation scheme for music sharing of just $5 per month would result in revenue to artists of $526,080,000 per year.

Further Reading
Australian Communications and Media Authority, Australia in the digital economy: the shift to the online environment (November 2010) <http://www.apo.org.au/research/australia-digital-economy-shift-online-environment> at 1 December 2010

Conference Calls

For those in Melbourne next week I am presenting a paper at the International Association of the Study of Popular Music (Au/NZ branch). My paper ties together our relationship with political music, changes in society and how this reduces the operative time of the songs and how the copyright term of seventy years plus the life of the author ridicules these songs and prevents their reuse or second life. I focus on the band - The Herd and am therefore presenting in the Hip Hop section. If you are interested in attending the conference it is being held in the city and you can get more information about it here. I am having a little bit of a holiday while I am in Melbourne so this space will probably be quiet for the next week or so - I may mobile blog but it depends on whether I have enough time.

IN OTHER NEWS... Berklee College of Music in association with the Berkman Centre at Harvard, have announced a conference to be held next April (Rethink Music) and have issued a call for papers. There is also a $50,000 prize for those that enter the 'new business model' competition. You can find our more about it here and here.

McGuinness on the Music Industry

This months Australian Rolling Stone Magazine (issue 708 November 2010) has an article from U2 Manager Paul McGuinness titled 'MANIFESTO: How to Save the Music Business'. He writes that free is killing the music industry with it being much harder than ever to get a record deal from a major label. He states that ISPs have made a heap of money out of piracy, that artists find it very difficult to speak out about file sharing with those that have attracting wide condemnation (Lilly Allen style). McGuinness suggests that the newspaper and film industries are also at risk and that something must be done to stop illegal sharing. His vision of the future is one of streaming services and he applauds the New Zealand and French Governments for the introduction of their graduated response schemes. Furthermore he states that the clever people like Steve Jobs and the makers of Facebook need to do more to create an environment in which the music industry can again prosper.

I found this to be interesting to read even if I disagreed with most of it - I have already spelled out my views in the last couple of posts so read on if you would like a recap on that. The one thing I do agree with is the difficult position artists find themselves in, they cant really speak out about file sharing without being accused of being 'uncool'. The Allen backlash is just one example of this, and so instead they say nothing. While much of sharing music is about exploration and in many cases this leads to financial reward or does not displace a sale because without sharing the consumer would not have bought it anyway, there are some that share without ever buying. The trouble for many major label artists is that they are caught in the cross fire - they cant risk their own careers by supporting file sharing even if they think it is good nor can they risk losing fans by condemning it. But is saying nothing really working?

Graphic Detail

Here's a graphic from a paper I presented a few years ago - as I wrote then, corporations are 'legally enabled, immoral, unaccountable greed driven "people" who are financially and therefore politically, more powerful than a national public government.'

'The impact of private governance in this context can be seen as a self perpetuating cycle.

Within wider society, liberalist capitalist corporations as enabled by the corporations law, use their economic power and public choice theory to get stronger copyright laws to strengthen their position. They influence their immediate public govenments to have their interests voiced in international forums and promoted through instruments such as bilateral trade agreements to further their control on a global scale.

Within the digital music environment this results in control over the production and distribution of music. Driven by a profit motive this in turn typically displaces politically educational music in preference for music more likely to be accepted and purchased by a wider sector of society. An associated impact is also evident with respect to the progress and development of new technology.

This therefore impacts on the receptive mediation of music by members of the public both in terms of their access to works and the diversity of messages that are available to them. This leads to a reduction in political and social awareness helping to perpetuate the cycle of corporate dictatorship.'

So ...Why Not?

Following on from my post yesterday about a proposed license scheme for file sharing I thought today I would try to answer the obvious question which is, why hasn't something like this been done yet?

The short answer is that it can't be done yet. Why? Because the four major record labels are not people - they are corporations. Corporations whilst enjoying the rights of people actually lack moral capacity (find and read Aidan Ricketts LLM thesis & the book 'When Corporations Rule the World by Korten). The Corporations Law requires that directors make decisions in the interests of the corporation (the business judgment rule) and from that comes considerations about profits - by law they can only do something if it will ensure more money to the corporation. Until we reach what I call the 'tipping point' that is the point where is it financially more viable to agree to a licensing regime there simply can't be one on a voluntary basis.

Furthermore compulsory licenses are hard to implement too - International Agreements raise the prospect of trade sanctions against Governments that do not act to protect intellectual property rights. While the big four still lobby for strong protections there are slim possibilities that Governments can enact legislation.

There's a lot more about this yet to go into my thesis but essentially it comes back to the fact that corporations are not people - they can't think of anyone but themselves and by law the directors are stuck even if they can see the benefits of these types of proposals. SO wait for the tipping point or make a strong case to the Government (unlikely in the USA due to campaign donations/public choice theory).

Without meaning to induce anything I would like to finish by saying - perhaps the more people file share now the sooner we will get some common sense back into the music industry....

So what could be better than this?

For my thesis I have been re reading three proposals for an alternative to litigation with respect to illegal file sharing. The three models I have been reading about come from Terry Fisher in his text ‘Promises to Keep’, Neil Netanel’s Non Commercial Use Levy and the EFF’s White Paper in this area. While each of these have the potential to realign the digital environment to allow for compensation to artists at the same time as the free sharing of music, each appear to me to have short comings that would result in a difficult implementation.

What I wanted to write about today is what I consider to be the best alternative and in some respects this comes from a mashup of ideas that these three offer. I propose a Compulsory/Voluntary License for music only, with changes to intellectual property law to allow for 3 second or less samples of music.

The Compulsory/Voluntary License I propose to allow for file sharing would see copyright holders being forced to release their works to the public while allowing freedom of choice for consumers. For a small flat monthly fee payable by file sharers they would be offered immunity from litigation for the sharing of music for non commercial purposes. This would ensure that all music is available to listeners at the same time as recouping a significant amount of funds for artists. Digital tracking and/or population sampling would be used to ensure that the funds are distributed to copyright holders based on popularity. Applying to non commercial uses only copyright holders would remain free to negotiate prices for other uses particularly those that relate to the mass media. I propose that the funds be divided up based on popularity however a threshold of downloads would need to be achieved to receive payment. I suggest that a model be introduced that ensure that a greater number of artists receive payment for their music but also that a sector of society remain amateur. Economic modelling would ensure that the funds are divided up in a way that would mimic the market place and as such it would not be possible to remunerate artists for every single download but rather ensure a professional sector of creators receive some concentration of funds.

Furthermore I propose that copyright law be altered to allow for a 3 second sample in either non commercial or commercial works. As a person with a background in law (not music) I am painfully aware of the expense and time that artists must spend accounting for samples they seek to use in new songs. I believe a blanket 3 second rule would alleviate much of the confusion that arises with respect to sampling. A 3 second rule would enable short riffs to be used and could be looped or repeated at will without incurring the need to negotiate licenses. This would provide enormous clarity to what is right now a difficult area of the law. Follow-on creators would have the certainty they need to ensure that their compositions would not attract litigation at the same time as protecting the integrity of the original composition.

These are two of the ideas that are central to the 5th chapter of my thesis and to me appear to be the best way of achieving a balance in the current debate.

Free Muse

I came across an interesting website today via a facebook link - it is called Free Muse. This is an international non-profit group dedicated to censorship in music. The site states:

"Imagine the world without music. Or imagine a world where we are told what to play, what to sing and even what we may listen to in the privacy of our own homes. That world already exists. In more countries that you might imagine, musicians and composers are under threat. And that threat is growing."

Based in Denmark, the organisation seeks to note instances of threats against musicians, to ensure there is public debate about freedom of expression and to act as a lobbying group for those that experience pressure from governments and other sources in the process of composing, recording and playing music live. Musicians have been tortured, exiled, jailed and even killed for their songs.

Take a look - it is available here.

Lewis Hyde: Common as Air: Revolution Art and Ownership

I finished reading a new book by Lewis Hyde a couple of days ago – it is titled ‘Common As Air: Revolution, Art and Ownership’. I was going to post a 4 page summary of it but decided that was too long for a blog post - get the book and have a read yourself it is great.

I was interested in raising one part of the book here though - that with respect to the song writing style of Bob Dylan. Hyde Writes:

“By his own account, Dylan is ‘not a melodist’, which explains in part the largeness of his debts to borrowed tunes. A musicologist at the Library of Congress, Todd Harvey, has tracked down the sources behind the first seventy songs Dylan recorded. ‘Almost every song... had a clear predecessor”, Harvey writes; his documentation shows that about two-thirds of Dylan’s melodies from that period were lifted directly from the Anglo- and African-American traditional repertory.” [pg 199]

He then goes on to extract part of a transcript of an interview with Bob Dylan from 2004 where Dylan discusses his song writing process:

“What happens is, I’ll take a song I know and simply start playing it in my head. That’s the way I meditate... I’ll be playing Bob Nolan’s ‘Tumbling Tumbleweeds’ for instance, in my head constantly – while I’m driving a car or talking to a person or sitting around or whatever... At a certain point, some of the words will change and I’ll start writing a song. ...That’s the folk music tradition. You use what’s been handed down.” [pg 199]

Hyde goes on to note that melody from ‘The Times They Are A Changing’ actually comes from a 19th century hymn ‘Deliverance Will Come’ written in the 1830s by John B. Matthias or in 1870 by W. McDonald or is simply indigenous to South West Virginia, origin unknown. Dylan first used the melody from ‘Deliverance Will Come’ in his song ‘Paths of Victory’ with variants of the tune also included in ‘When the Ship Comes In’ and ‘One Too Many Mornings’.

Hyde then goes on to question whether a young song write could arise in the same manner today as Dylan did in the 1960s. It seems unlikely with copyright law at present insisting that all sampling be licensed in advance. Hyde suggests that the creative ecology has changed significantly over recent decades and makes further reference to Dylan: “Remember his remark about the Merle Travis song ‘Sixteen Tons’: ‘You could write twenty or more songs off that one melody by slightly altering it.’ Hyde comments: ‘That may well have been the case in 1962 when Dylan’s first album appeared; today you’d better radically alter the melody, leaving no three-note passage untouched, or else make sure you have in hand twenty or more licenses from the Merle Travis estate.’ [pg 206].

Limewire

ArsTechnica are reporting that Limewire has been issued with an injunction forcing it to no longer provide file sharing software or support. This comes after a ruling earlier in the year in which the courts held that Limewire induced copyright infringement. A visit to the network shows a notice which states:

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL NOTICE THAT LIMEWIRE IS UNDER A COURT-ORDERED INJUNCTION TO STOP DISTRIBUTING AND SUPPORTING ITS FILE SHARING SOFTWARE. DOWNLOADING OR SHARING COPYRIGHTED CONTENT WITHOUT AUTHORIZATION IS ILLEGAL.

I have a very old version of Limewire but when I logged in I couldn't connect to the network. I guess this means Frostwire will be the next port of call for those wishing to share - this is an open-source file sharing network which has not been subjected to any litigation to date. And of course the popularity of BitTorrent will mean that most people can still get what they want. Its a shame to see it go really though - what a waste of a perfectly good business.

Further Reading
ArsTechnica, Sour ruling for LimeWire as court says to turn off P2P functionality (26 October 2010) < http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2010/10/sour-ruling-for-limewire-as-court-says-to-turn-off-p2p-functionality.ars > at 27 October 2010

Sony Walkman

Sony has announced it will stop producing its classic Walkman with the digital era displacing it with mp3 players and mobile telephones. I myself had a Walkman many moons ago and can't help but think of this as a milestone in the move to digital technologies.

The ABC report on this announcement discusses our love for mixtapes and taping songs off the radio - if only we had known then we were pirates perhaps the law would have been changed sooner but as it stands both of these activities were illegal. That didnt stop us though. In recent years creating a mixtape of songs we own is now legal but like so many mine were from friends and that of course remains illegal. DRM wasnt even an acronym back then.

Its high time the music industry got with the program on the sharing of music.

Further Reading
ABC, Tape lovers mix it up, old-spool (25 October 2010) < http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/10/25/3047591.htm?section=justin > at 26 October 2010

Dan Bull - Death of ACTA

I've posted a couple of songs from Dan Bull in the past - here is his latest titled 'Death of ACTA':

MC Lars

I was reading through some VERY old things that I have written over the years and came across this song by MC Lars - this is awesome and well worth viewing, take a look at it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBkuiChImb8

Set Back for 3 strikes in Ireland

EFF (via Facebook) are providing a link to an article from TechEYE.net which states that the High Court in Dublin has found no legal basis for ISPs to disclose user identities for the purposes of a three strikes disconnection policy. Irish ISP UCP will therefore not be involved in this process until such time as new legislation is brought into the country. This is a good outcome and a great precedent for other common law countries. Irish ISP Eircom however, has already begun implementing a three strikes or graduated response program as part of an out of court settlement with the content industry. It is unclear whether this will continue.

Further Reading
TechEYE.net, Irish ISP wins major legal victory against record labels (11 October 2010) < http://www.techeye.net/internet/irish-isp-wins-major-legal-victory-against-record-labels#ixzz126RlMHqg > at 12 October 2010

ACTA

The text of the ACTA - Anti Counterfeiting and Trade Agreement - has been released today. I havent had much of a chance to go through it but it is available here for those looking for it. Be careful when you read it to separate the things that 'must' be done from those that 'may' be done. Also the text commonly states that it applies to 'at least' copyright and trade mark meaning there is discretion to expand the provisions to other areas in the future.

I note that the border security measures may be excluded with respect to travelers' personal luggage which means that the non commercial and personal use of works may continue without baggage or personal searches at airports.

The treaty does appear to insist on increased damages payable on infringement of the law, increased measures for the disclosure of identities from ISPs as well as the implementation of laws with respect to the anti circumvention of DRM.

Countries involved in the negotiation of the agreement include: Australia, Canada, the European Union (EU) represented by the European Commission and the EU Presidency (Belgium) and the EU Member States, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America.

Further Reading
Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (2 October 2010) <http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2338> at 7 October 2010

Office of the United States Trade Representative, Statement from Ambassador Ron Kirk Regarding the Public Release of ACTA Text (October 2010) < http://www.ustr.gov/about-us/press-office/press-releases/2010/october/statement-ambassador-ron-kirk-regarding-public-rel > at 7 October 2010

ACMA: technology developments in the digital economy

The Australian Communications and Media Authority have recently released a new report on technological developments in the digital economy available here. It is divided into three areas - Infrastructure, Smart Technology and the Digital Community.

Interesting data is presented with respect to social networking with the report stating that Australians spent the same time as the global average - 1 in every 11 online minutes at sites such as face book and twitter in 2009. In June 2009 there were 8.9 million unique visitors to social network sites - an increase of 29% in a 12 month period. In November 2009 it was found that Australians led the world by spending 29% of their online time on Facebook.


Further Reading
ACMA, Technology Developments in the Digital Economy (August 2010) < http://www.acma.gov.au/webwr/_assets/main/lib311925/technology_developments_in_digital_economy.pdf > at 6 October 2010

FMC Policy Summit 2010

If you happen to be in Washington next week the 10th annual Future of Music Coalition Policy Summit is being held with speakers from all over the music industry including Fred Von Lohmann, Senior Copyright Counsel for Google. Another interesting speaker will be Jill Sobule who has been noted in the past for her use of alternative business models. It is being held in conjunction with Washington University and is particularly concerned with the position of artists in the current and emerging digital environment. You can read more about it here. They write:

The 10th Anniversary Future of Music Policy Summit brings together an incredible array of musicians, arts advocates, policymakers, technologists, media representatives and industry figures to discuss issues at the intersection of music, technology, policy and law. Over three days, connections will be made, challenges will be identified, and solutions will be considered. Your participation in these conversations is crucial to the future of music.

Australian Independent Music Awards

The 5th Annual Jagermeister Independent Music Awards are to be held at The Forum Theatre, Melbourne on Friday October 1st, 2010, featuring live performances from British India, Cloud Control, The Amity Affliction, M-Phazes, Sally Seltmann and Joe Chindamo. Doors open at 8:00pm; tickets are $29+BookingFees and available now via Ticketmaster.

Its interesting to read the interview with Space Invadas which is currently on their website where the social norms of file sharing are discussed:

What's the biggest challenge you face as an independent musician?

The age of torrent downloads, which kinda makes it hard to make music full time if no one buys it. So I've felt the last two years it has really made it more difficult. They [torrents] are really socially acceptable now.

Unlike most major label artists that never really recouped from music sales unless there was a huge volume of sales, it seems the independent labels are hurting because they are only releasing for a small number of artists and traditionally those musicians would have seen some of that income.

Bigsound & Australia Talks

Radio National's recent broadcast of BigSound, the Queensland music conference, is available online here - it was presented on the Australia Talks radio show last week.

It is an interesting program worth a listen and available for free download. In particular new business models including fans directly sponsoring artists and the use of streaming instead of downloads are discussed.

The show starts with the proposition that this is the best time ever to be a new artist with the speakers going on to consider direct connections to fans as one of the best changes to take place in the last 15 years. The difficulties in getting heard given the cacophony of songs that are around is also considered with the clustering of fans through social networks and synching with other forms of media as ways to get through to new audiences.

The Big Sound website is available here and states that the next conference will be held from August 31st to September 2nd 2011.

Ping Pong

Social networking has been with us for a number of years with MySpace and Facebook taking the lead in providing instant access to friends and "friends" around the world.

One of the things I look at with these services is the way that musicians use them. Undoubtedly these services provide artists with a way to communicate with fans about a myriad of issues including recent releases, concert dates and every day activities. I am particularly interested in the way artists also use these services to communicate with fans about political issues and advocate participation in campaigns.

The difficulties arise with artists that do not have a strong financial backing who must spend time constantly updating and adding to their profiles - of course as well as MySpace and Facebook other services such as Twitter require ongoing maintenance.

Now days, instead of collecting the names and contact details of fans manually at gigs, these services are available on an opt-in basis for fans to "follow" the activities and events relating to artists.

To add to the mix, this month saw the introduction of another service, this time by iTunes, called Ping. Ping is best described as social networking for music. With access to the iTunes store, the connection between friends and fans is now closely related to song choices.

Released on 1 September 2010 in 23 countries it will be interesting to see how this service is used my both musicians and fans alike.

I have had a quick look around the service and it does seem to work very well with a very simple GUI. The link to Ping is on the left hand side of the iTunes page, listed under the iTunes Store.

It has only been launched this month and so far not many people have signed up to it - the John Butler Trio for example, has nearly 250,000 followers on Facebook but not yet 2,000 on Ping. Similarly Blue King Brown, one of my favorites, is not yet listed on Ping.

Further Reading
wikipedia, iTunes Ping (8 September 2010) < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes_Ping > at 10 September 2010

Wired, Apple’s ‘Ping’ Social Network Is Already Too Big to Fail (1 September 2010) < http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/09/apples-ping-social-music-network-is-already-too-big-to-fail/> at 10 September 2010

Apple, iTunes - Ping: Social Network for Music (September 2010) < http://www.apple.com/itunes/ping/ > at 10 September 2010

John Butler on political music and file sharing

I have just read an excellent interview with John Butler of the John Butler Trio - a band I have written about here before that has a number of political songs. The full interview from The Vine is available here and worth reading.

On political music:
There’s not many songs that you hear on the TV talking about things, talking about resource companies sucking the fuckin’ very spirit out of our country. There are no songs on radio that are talking about that, mainstream radio, let alone on a mainstream television show. To me, I'm behind enemy lines at the moment, man. [laughs] And I'm planting fucking bombs; I'm planting seeds probably more than bombs. That's how I look at it....

On file sharing:
My view is there are always going to be those who copy music and want to share it with friends. And that's fine with me. Hopefully if you like the music then you go and buy it. But I'm an independent company so 60% of my sale have gone down. As my music has gotten more popular, I've sold less albums. And I can understand why it's happening because the record companies to a certain degree kind of put out so much crap for so long that they lost their audience. Their audience didn't respect them, but at the same time, [laughs] losing 60% of your income makes it really hard to get out there and tour and to make albums!

Further Reading
The Vine, John Butler Interview (August 2010) < http://www.thevine.com.au/music/interviews/john-butler-_-interview20100831.aspx > 31 August 2010

International Association for the Study of Popular Music

I will be presenting a paper at the IASPM Au/Nz conference in Melbourne later this year. My paper is about relationship breakdown with political music - I will be discussing my personal connection to songs by The Herd and the change in political climate which has rendered many of their most recent songs irrelevant. In short I refer to the length of copyright protection and how many political songs depend heavily on the current social context to be effective.

You can read more about the IASPM conference here. It is being hosted by Monash University on the 24th-26th November. The conference theme is stated as:

Popular music is a dynamic cultural force. The acts of listening, playing, dancing, composing and recording are undertaken in a constant state of flux, further complicated by flows of space and time. This conference invites papers that consider popular music as a powerful social agent. This may include analysis of current or past uses of music instruments as the sound-producing objects of change, or particular uses of technologies and human voices of change. The conference also welcomes investigations of the institutions and discourses within which the sound, the event and the experience are created, and their relationships to social change.

Licensing graphic

PC Pro has an article with a detailed graphic on the licensing and rights associated with music - this one is worth a look:

PC Pro, A graphic illustration of music industry madness (13 August 2010) < http://www.pcpro.co.uk/blogs/2010/08/13/a-graphic-illustration-of-music-industry-madness/ > at 19 August 2010

Conroy on the proposed internet filter

Senator Conroy will be speaking with the triple j radio show, Hack, at 5.30pm this afternoon. You can stream the show live off the internet by going to the triple j home page here: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/

Or, if you miss it live, you can listen to it afterward as a podcast by going to the Hack home page here: http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/hack/

Senator Conroy is the Minister for Broadband and directly responsible for the proposed internet filter in Australia.

Blue King Brown

Blue King Brown have just emailed out to say that there new album will be released in Australia on August 20th 2010. They are a fantastic independent politically motivated group and I for one have been waiting for the new album - it is called “WORLDWIZE part 1 North and South" - keep a look out for it!

Sally

Internet Filter Campaign Statements

I was just reading that the Australian Liberal Government would not back the introduction of an internet filter if they are elected to office. They consider the filter proposal to be flawed policy that will not work. They suggest it will create a false sense of security for parents without actually preventing the spread of censored information and pictures.

You can read the article from ABC News here:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/08/05/2974827.htm

Ozi Batla: Put it on Wax

There is a new great song out by an Australian hip-hop MC called Ozi Batla (he also MCs with the Herd). The lyrics state that downloading music has not hurt the music industry but that the internet has aided artists to make direct connections with their audience. The song was released earlier this year and is really worth taking a look at - you can see the clip here: http://www.elefanttraks.com/node/7385

Folk Tradition

I have just read a book by Pete Seeger titled, Where Have all the Flowers Gone - A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies. This is a fantastic book that details all of the history of the songs sung by Seeger as well as the context in which he became known as a prolific performer and writer of folk music.

Typical to the tradition of folk songs he notes his adaptation of existing songs as well as the adaptation of his own. He writes:

I've rarely refused copyright permission for someone to change my songs. After all, I've changed so many other people's songs, what right have I to be picky about my own. [at pg 165]

With respect to the composition of The Long March, he states:

I find it easier to think of a refrain than put together the verses to proceed it. These few lines kept returning to me, though. Maybe some will be able to use them. [at pg 170]

He also talks of the tradition within folk music to reuse other people's work:

...[A]t the age of 20, I met Woody Guthrie, the most prolific song write of them all. He, too, used a standard technique of putting new words to old tunes. (see pg 85) One can make up a new song by changing around an old song. Who care's if its not completely original... So when I heard Woody sing Jimmie Rodger's yodeling blues "T for Texas" just having registered for the draft (October 1940) it inspired me to put together this "new" song.

The new song was called 'C for Conscription'. Indeed the index to the table of contents of this book is broken up into categories - Seeger lists 25 songs in which he has written a new tune to other's words and a further 23 songs where he has written new words to other's tunes.

He states: [T]hrough musical history borrowing has been a two way street. This is simply impossible in the litigious copyright environment of today.

For much of his career copyright was not automatic but had to be applied for. He writes, with respect to the origins of 'We Will Overcome', that he is only one of thousands of people whi have added verses to this now world famous song. [at pg 32] He furthermore states that he is unsure of the origins of the song which could back as far as a 1921 gospel song "We Will Understand it Better Bye and Bye". He introduced the song to the SNCC (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in 1960 and its use in the context of the Civil Rights Movement meant that it became "the song".

With respect to the copyright on the song he states:

In the early '60's' our publisher said to us, "If you don't copyright this now, some Hollywood types will have a version out next year like "Come On Baby, We Shall Overcome Tonight" so Guy, Frank and I signed a "song writers contract" At that time we didn't know Lucille Simmon's name. Now we try to credit the African-American people... All royalties and income from the song go to a non-profit fund, which annually gives grants to further African-American music in the South. [at pg 32-34]

He notes that there are many versions of the lyrics and lists 15 of the most popular. [at pg 35]

Similarly with respect to the Woody Guthrie song "This Land is Your Land" he states:

Dozens of other verses have been written to the song within the last 10 years. Some of them simply change a few words to make the chorus apply to Canada or to England or to Australia... There have been anti-pollution verses. I always encourage anyone who loves any song not to be ashamed to try making up new verses for it. [at pg 144]

Finally, with respect to the role of musicians in society he writes (from 1974):

In most nations, most ages, the local or national establishment tried to warp almost any good ides to its own ends. Music, art, science, humor. Religion too... Our job now is to learn how to speak truth to power - without being thrown in jail too often. Don't say it can't be done. We can do it in a thousand ways. I've tried with banjos and boats... We just have to be aware that it is a struggle, all the way, to keep from being co-opted. [at pg 170]

He later adds:

Will there be a human race in another 200 years? Yest, it's a possibility. If so, it will be partly because songwriters of many kinds used whatever talents they were born with or developed. And use them to help their fellow humans get together.

This is an excellent book and worth a look for those interested in the use of music in the political context of the 1960s.

Further Reading
Peter Seeger, 'Where Have all the Flowers Gone - A Singer's Stories, Songs, Seeds, Robberies'. (I have the first edition which is undated and published by Sing Out) - the second edition was released in April 1997 and can be purchased from Amazon< http://www.amazon.com/Where-Have-All-Flowers-Gone/dp/1881322106 > at 28 July 2010

Hendrix and The Star Spangled Banner

While there was no single song that summed up its central values, both the social and political dominations of youth protest shared a common belief that rock could articulate its concerns.[1]

Shelia Whiteley writes an interesting chapter in the text ‘Remembering Woodstock’ in which she considers the music played at Woodstock and its reception by the audience. She notes in particular the communication process that takes place in live concerts and the position of the audience in receiving the music. The combination of the civil rights movement and anti-Vietnam sentiments were paramount issues to be communicated through music by the artists at this event.

Whiteley focuses Jimi Hendrix’s rendition of ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ by discussing the civil rights and Vietnam war as the context in which he gave this performance. She writes:

Hendrix was certainly aware of the problems confronting black service-men in Vietnam. He, himself, had earlier been conscripted to the 101st Airborne Division... which had been assigned to Vietnam in 1965. By this time Hendrix had been honourably discharged following a training injury in the autumn of 1962, but he certainly knew the score as far as the position of black GIs were concerned: they represented 2 per cent of the officers and were assigned 28 per cent of the combat duties.[2]

Whiteley then goes on to consider the way in which Hendrix illustrated his lack of respect for the American authorities and the sense of injustice and cynicism he held for those in power:

So, what did the music mean, and did the crowd understand? While it is obviously impossible to say that those listening to Hendrix shared my interpretation, it is nevertheless suggested that the majority would have engaged with his performance, recognizing his style and possibly making some assumptions as to his personal philosophy and feelings, about the civil rights movement and those engaged in the Vietnam War. Clearly, the melody itself is still recognizable, but the sheer volume of noise, the distortion, the blue note bends and swerves, sustain and feedback aurally attack the original three-four metre, the neatly balanced phrases, the uplift of the melodic line and, as such, the connotations of heroism associated with ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ are undercut by a mood of devastation. I would also add that this was no spontaneous improvisation. Rather, it was a thought-through personal statement with all the trademarks of Hendrix’s performance style...[3]

____________________
[1] Sheila Whiteley, ‘1,2,3 What are we fighting 4? Music, meaning and ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 20
[2] Sheila Whiteley, ‘1,2,3 What are we fighting 4? Music, meaning and ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 25
[3] Sheila Whiteley, ‘1,2,3 What are we fighting 4? Music, meaning and ‘The Star Spangled Banner’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 26

Extracts: 'Remembering Woodstock’

Here are three more extracts of the text ‘Remembering Woodstock’. Each of these discuss the context in which the concert was held and the relationship between the music of that era and the social context in which it was written, recorded and performed:

In the original 1969 Woodstock, rock music rode on the back of the politics and not vice versa. The event was envisioned as participatory, non-commercial and counter-cultural, with music being the cultural prism for already existing social movements. Abbie Hoffman, notorious political activist of that period, saw it as epitomizing a part of an ongoing social revolution which was ‘not something fixed in ideology, nor is it something fashioned to a particular decade. It is a perpetual process embedded in the human spirit. Yet, of course, there were issues specific to the period: at that time, ‘the civil rights and anti-war movements engaged millions of people in the politics of direct action primarily on the strength of the issues themselves’ (Garofalo, 1992, p.16). In turn, the politics influenced the style and form of the music itself. Today’s world is very different. With the decline in trust and belief in the political power of social movements popular music has come to the fore. It fills the gap, often serving as the main vehicle to organize large masses of people raising social awareness.[1]



[D]espite its reliance on systems of mass production and mass communications, which tied it firmly in with the industrial logic of late capitalism, the rock music of the 1960s enjoyed a status as an authentic, artistic form of expression that set it apart, in the minds of those who performed and listened to it, from commercial chart music (see Willis, 1978; Frith, 1983). This in turn engendered a feeling among rock audiences that their bonding with rock performers was one of ’community’, and that the music produced by rock artists was the music of the counter-culture in that it communicated a message and cause endorsed by all of those with counter-cultural involvement – audiences and musicians alike... In every sense then, the notion of a counter-cultural community was a myth, maintained by the sheer belief of those involved that music could, in some way, represent their interests and, ultimately, change the world.[2]



[I]n the late 1960s it was possible to maintain the illusion that certain musical practices acted as a universalizing social force. The strength of this association mist not be underestimated. While popular music in the industrialized Weest in the 1930s and 1940s had been a leisure pursuit, and in the 1950s and early 2960s had become crucial to subcultural identification ... as the available stylists patters multiplied, the revulsions felt by affluent youth at US imperialism in South-east Asia coincided with an ever more radical approach to music-making and selling, such that we talk about a single counter-culture, indefinable by it ‘sound’.[3]

_____________________
[1] Gerry Bloustien, ‘Still picking children form the trees? Reimagining Woodstock in twenty-first-century Australia’ in Ed. Andy Bennett ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) Pg 128
[2] Andy Bennett, ‘Everybody’s happy, everybody’s free’: Representation and nostalgia in the Woodstock film’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 48 - 49
[3] Allan F. Moore, ‘The contradictory aesthetics of Woodstock’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 76

Music Law in the Digital Age

This looks like a book worth another look:

Music Law in the Digital Age
http://musiclawinthedigitalage.com/

Woodstock: Country Joe McDonald

One performer that received much acclaim for his sets at Woodstock was Country Joe McDonald. In particular his acoustic set on the first day of the festival was seen to be a moment in time in which the Woodstock Nation was brought together. Reflecting on this through the film footage and noting the selective inclusion of material in that film, Andy Bennett states:

An illustrative example of such artistic licence on the part of the Woodstock production team is Country Joe McDonald’s rendition of ‘Fixin-to-Die’ , a powerful anti-Vietnam War song that assumed anthemic properties as a result of its inclusion in the film... In the now legendary film sequence of Country Joe’s Woodstock performance, subtitled lyrics are added to the bottom of the screen, urging cinema audiences to sing along with the satirical chorus lyric[1]:

And it’s one, two, three what are we fighting for,
Don’t ask me I don’t give a damn, the next stop is Vietnam
And it’s five, six, seven, open up the pearly gates,
Don’t ask me to wonder why, whoopee we’re all gonna die...

Country Joe McDonald also played an electric set at Woodstock that was not included in the film. Dave Allen suggests that this led to the determination of this artist’s subsequent reputation in a way that effected no other artist – Country Joe McDonald was characterised from then on as an acoustic political musician despite being diverse in instrument selection.[2] Indeed Country Joe and the Fish had been a psychedelic band and known as the main band from Berkeley.[3] Allen reflects on the influences on the band by stating:

“The songs of Country Joe and the Fish are more explicitly political than those of the Grateful Dead because of the influence that Woody Guthrie exerted on McDonalds career...he is clear about his role as a modern day troubadour... and his purpose in singing about war, army veterans, nursing, and other political, social and personal issues.”[4]

Dave Allen and Country Joe McDonald wrote the afterword to this text and in doing so examine McDonalds personal perspective on Woodstock:

I am an honourably discharged Vietnam veteran having served three years in the regular navy. I also grew up in Southern California with American Communist Party members as parents. Having had both these experiences in my background left me feeling victimized. I had no love for the leaders of the American military or the American Left – I was neither enamoured of or mystified by, either. Consequently, a life mission emerged from these experiences that I was never to abandon:

Dedicated to the cause of justice
A dream of peace
To try and help those who cannot defend themselves[5].

McDonald states:

The vast majority of the 50 million people making up the Vietnam generation did nothing but wait the war out. Ten million people – 9 million men and 1 million women – served in the Vietnam-era military, and several million were in the peace movement or the counter –culture, as it is sometimes called... At times I have resisted my connection to the Vietnam War. It has been consistently bad for business and I have been warned and cautioned by many of my peers for constantly bringing up the issues of the Vietnam War in my songs and in my chats to audiences. Over the years I have accepted this as my fate. Ever since I sag ‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin-to-Die-Rag’ at Woodstock I cannot escape a connection with the Vietnam War. Whether or not I chose to make Vietnam a focus of my life, it seems to have chosen me. My efforts to help veterans and the country heal from the war have been both reviled and honoured, just like the war itself... In 1989 I appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show as part of the ‘celebration’ of the 20th Anniversary of the Woodstock festival. On air I said:

"My appearance at Woodstock essentially ruined my career and I have never recovered...”[6]

______________
[1] Andy Bennett, ‘Everybody’s happy, everybody’s free’: Representation and nostalgia in the Woodstock film’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 46
[2] Dave Allen, ‘A public transition: acoustic and electric performances at the Woodstock festival’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 112
[3] Dave Allen, ‘A public transition: acoustic and electric performances at the Woodstock festival’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 118-119
[4] Dave Allen, ‘A public transition: acoustic and electric performances at the Woodstock festival’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 120-121
[5] Country Joe McDonald and Dave Allen, ‘Afterword: Country Joe McDonald remembering Woodstock’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 146
[6] Country Joe McDonald and Dave Allen, ‘Afterword: Country Joe McDonald remembering Woodstock’ in Ed. Andy Bennett, ‘Remembering Woodstock’ (Ashgate 2004) 152-153

MySpace Music Beta

MySpace has launched MySpace Music in Australia in Beta form. I've had a good look around it this morning and it all seems to be functioning well - the streams are good and not resource intensive, some of my favourite bands, all independents, have music available and so far it looks good. The playlist making software took me a little to get used to - no real instructions - if you are setting up a new playlist, drag and drop from the search menu, its easy enough. The music news section really doesn't support the artists I like but of course they have pages that are easy enough to visit. If you are not already on MySpace sign up here: http://www.myspace.com/ and take a look - Australia is always behind the United States and other parts of the world so this is not new in other places.

Remembering Woodstock

I have just started to read the book Remembering Woodstock and would like to extract some of the comments and points made as I make my way through the text. This book has some important reflections on the socio-cultural context of the 1960s and the music that was released at that time and so is likely to form some of the basis of the second chapter of my thesis. The second chapter I am about to write considers the social and musical context of political music from the 1960s to today in Australia and the United States.

The introduction of this text, written by editor Andy Bennett notes that two very important issues were relevant to the United States in the 1960s – the Civil Rights movement particularly around the mid 1960s and the anti-Vietnam War movement of that decade.

Bennett notes that the passing of the Civil Rights Bill by Kennedy in 1964 did little to alleviate the socio-economic conditions of African Americans in the United States . The rise of the Black Power Movement and later the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) were two important developments of the 1960s in this country. The music reflected the sentiments of this issue with songs such as James Brown ‘Say it Loud’ and Aretha Franklin’s ‘Respect’ just two examples of songs relevant to this movement. [pg xvii] Hendrix was also an important musician in this regard and was of course one of the few African Americans invited to perform at Woodstock and in doing so gave a world renowned rendition of the Star Spangled Banner [pg xviii].

With respect to the Vietnam War, Bennett writes:

A particularly prominent liaison between rock music and protest centred around the Vietnam War. From the mid-1960s onwards a strong anti-Vietnam War movement put increasing pressure on the US government to end the war and withdraw from Vietnam. Anti-war demonstrations in the US... opposed the seemingly senseless nature of the Vietnam War. Which, it was argued, had ‘sunk into an apparently endless slough of mud and dead bodies’ (Snowman, 1968, p. 149). Similar concerns were expressed concerning what was deemed to the oppressive action of the US government and its over blocking of the self-determination of a small country in the interest of its own corporate concerns [pg xvi].

Bennett goes on to note that songs such as Country Joe MacDonald’s ‘I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die-Rag’ were effective in detailing the central concerns of that movement [pg xvi]. Indeed he states that:

[T]he lyrical content of popular music ... took on increasingly radical dimensions as the 1960s progressed. Songwriters and lyricists saw it as their artistic responsibility to respond directly to current social and political issues, which, during the mid-1960s were becoming increasingly turbulent [pg xv].

The socio-cultural events and issues of this time were readily apparent to and indeed a driving force behind the Woodstock Festival held 15 August to 18 August 1969 with an audience of some 450,000 people and a further 1.5million unable to get in [pg xiv].

Further Reading
Ed. Andy Bennett, 'Remembering Woodstock' (Ashgate 2004) <http://www.amazon.com/Remembering-Woodstock-Ashgate-Popular-Music/dp/0754607143> at 11 July 2010

20th Anniversary celebrations at EFF

Check out this great animation about the 3 strikes rules from Nina Paley - its part of the 20th Anniversary celebrations at EFF:

https://w2.eff.org/ninapaley/



I am a proud member!
Sally

Four Great Women and a Manicure

I was watching The Simpsons tonight and caught this great reference to the Disney Corporation and copyright law - I cant actually see the link below in this region but those on the other side of the world may be more fortunate:

Season 20 / Episode 20: - Four Great Women and a Manicure

Lisa Simpson: I know another story about a great woman. It's called Snow White and the Seven
Lawyer: [interrupts Lisa] Excuse me, but the story you are about to tell is a copyright property of the Walt Disney Company.
Lisa Simpson: What? Snow White is a fairy tale that has been around for hundreds of years. Nobody owns the rights to it.
Lawyer: Does your story have any dwarves in it?
Lisa Simpson: Yes, but they are my own original creation. Their names are Crabby, Drunky, Hungry, Greedy, Lenny, Kerney, and Doc-tor Hibbert.

The Disney lawyer has very long evil finger nails! The scenes that follow are just as funny with an adaptation of the Snow White song available on hulu here. I purchased the episode from iTunes.

More Information
ShareTV.org, Lisa Simpson - The Simpsons Character Guide <http://sharetv.org/shows/the_simpsons/cast/lisa_simpson/quotes> at 6 July 2010

Wikipedia, Four Great Women and a Manicure (last updated 19 June 2010) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Women_and_a_Manicure> at 6 July 2010

Larrikin Music Publishing Pty Ltd v EMI Songs Australia Pty Limited (No 2) [2010] FCA 698 (6 July 2010)

UPDATED: In this decision Jacobson J was required to assess the copyright liability of the (respondents) composers of the song ‘Downunder’ for the sampling of the song ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’. Having held in February this year that a substantial part of the song was sampled, the court in this instance was required to assess the damages payable under the Trade Practices Act to the applicants.

Drawing from Ludlow Music Inc v Williams (No 2) [2002] EWHC 638 (Ch) (“Ludlow Music”) at [38] - [48] Jacobson held the relevant principles to be, at [29] – [34]:

First, the respondents being wrongdoers, damages should be liberally assessed but the object is to compensate the applicant, not to punish the respondents. Second, it is common practice in the music industry for the owner of the copyright in a work to grant a licence to a person who seeks to use part of the original work in a derivative work. In those instances the owner of the copyright will grant a licence in return for a share of the copyright (or a share of the income) in or from the derivative work. Third, when an infringer uses the copyright work without a licence, the measure of the damages it must pay will be the sum which it would have paid by way of royalty if, instead of acting “illegally”, it had acted legally. Fourth, where (as in the present case) there is no “normal” rate of royalty or licence fee, evidence may be adduced of practice in the industry including expert evidence of factors which may guide the court in the determination of the applicable rate. Evidence of that type will be general and hypothetical and it will be a matter for the court to determine the weight to be given to it. Fifth, where (as in the present case) some form of royalty or profit share is appropriate, the basis for the assessment is a transaction between a willing licensor and a willing licensee. The assessment has to be made upon all the relevant evidence which may include evidence of rates agreed in other similar or “comparable transactions”. Sixth, the process is one of judicial estimation. Mathematical precision is not attainable. It would appear that if the court is to err, it should do so on the side of generosity to an applicant.

Holding that there had been a continuing misrepresentation as to the copyright ownership of the song to APRA and AMCOS he cautioned against using other samples in songs and their respective royalty licence rates as guidelines in cases such as these at [179] – [181]:

The evidence of “comparable” samples is to be approached with caution. Each sample is different and the factors which informed the outcome of the negotiations in the various samples referred to in the evidence are not fully available. The process is quite different from that which underlies the well established principle applicable to the assessment of the value of land or items of property. There, the basis of the value is the price that a willing purchaser would pay to a willing but not anxious vendor and is determined upon the footing that there are articles of the same kind which are the subject of frequent sale and purchase: Spencer v Commonwealth (1907) 5 CLR 418 at 431, 441. Nevertheless, insofar as the “comparables” adduced in evidence can be given weight as indicators of the outcome of the hypothetical bargain, they point to a low percentage figure.

Overall Jacobson held that the 2 bars of ‘Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree’ were a substantial part of that song, however in determining damages, the question was predominantly based on what qualitative contribution had been made by that song to 'Downunder’. ‘Downunder’ was not heavily reliant on the sample as part of its song with Jacobson referring to a range of other musical elements and qualities which gave the song its wider popularity. Here he held at [216] to [220]:

Although the quotation from Kookaburra in the 1981 recording is, in my view, sufficient to constitute an infringement of copyright, other factors are to be taken into account in assessing the percentage interest payable in a hypothetical licensing bargain. The most obvious factor is the difficulty in detecting the similarity between the flute riff and the bars from Kookaburra. A further strong indicator of a low percentage is to be found in a qualitative and quantitative consideration of Kookaburra’s contribution to Down Under, looked at a whole. The qualitative and quantitative comparison which I am required to undertake in this part of the case is different from that which was the subject of the February Reasons. There, the enquiry was limited to the bars of Kookaburra that are reproduced in the flute riff. Here, the comparison involves a weighing of the significance of the bars of Kookaburra to the overall musical qualities of Down Under. Whilst it is true that the commercial success of Down Under in 2002 may have given the copyright owner of Kookaburra an opportunity to capitalise upon its statutory monopoly, that is outweighed by the other factors to which I have referred. The process of determining the percentage figure to be paid is one of judicial estimation. Taking the most generous approach that is open to me having regard to the figures put to me by the parties, I estimate the figure at 5%...

Further Reading
Larrikin Music Publishing Pty Ltd v EMI Songs Australia Pty Limited [2010] FCA 29 (4 February 2010) <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2010/29.html > at 6 July 2010

Larrikin Music Publishing Pty Ltd v EMI Songs Australia Pty Limited (No 2) [2010] FCA 698 (6 July 2010) <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/cases/cth/FCA/2010/698.html > at 6 July 2010)

Wikipedia, Kookaburra with Food (Image) (last updated 23 June 2010) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kookaburra> at 6 July 2010

_____________
(11.30am): According to ABC Youth Radio Station, Triple J, the copyright owners of the Australian band Men at Work's song 'Downunder' have been held liable for copyright infringement of the song 'Kookaburra Sits in the Old Gum Tree' and have been ordered to pay 5% of royalties backdated to 2002. As soon as the judgement has been published online I will write more about this decision and any obiter dictum with respect to sampling under Australian copyright law.

Further Reading
OpenContentAustraliaResearchReview, Recent Developments (6 August 2009) <http://ocarr.blogspot.com/2009/08/recent-developments.html> at 6 July 2010

Grids

All academics like a matrix - here's one from today:

	Deliberate	Accidental
Political Use
Non Political Use
Political Music
- Narratives
- Anthems
Non Political Music