[free-sklyarov] Call to artists

Mark K. Bilbo mark at blorch.org
Tue Jul 31 21:11:22 PDT 2001


(Xpost from the international list)

I agree with you totally that writers, musicians, and other artists are our 
natural allies. What's been going on is that rights are being stripped away 
on *both sides. Payments for those who *create this almighty "content" are 
being pushed down while charges to those who *consume "content" are rising.

There was a recent push by the recording industry to declare (by law) all 
works older than about 35 years to be "work-for-hire." Which means everybody 
who ever did a song would lose *all rights* after 35 years. Lose those rights 
to, you guessed it, corporations.

It was only the outrage of the wealthier singer/song writers who fought the 
law back.

Recently, also, writers had to sue all the way to the Supreme Court to get 
paid for "digital compilations" that included their work. The "industry" was 
taking the position that if they created a compilation for Internet access 
(like a database) that they didn't have to pay the *authors.* It took suing 
for ages (as SCOTUS suits do) to get the right to be paid for your work.

This is happening all over. Corporations are pushing "work-for-hire" on 
creators (meaning you sell ALL your rights for a one time payment and NO 
royalties) while screeching they must "protect copyright." 

There is all this babble about how if we don't "protect copyright" then there 
won't be any incentive to create. But if there is any destruction of 
"incentive" going on, it's the corporations doing all the screeching. THEY 
are destroying the "incentive" to bother with writing songs or a book or 
whatever then trying to get a publishing or recording or what have you 
contract.

I had a *very nasty falling out with my former publisher when I found they 
were shipping thousands of copies of a book of mine behind my back. Then on 
being caught, they tried to trick me into (this was SO stupid) amending my 
contract with them to say that what they did was perfectly okay.

Given that they had a legal staff out the wahzoo, it became clear that I 
didn't stand a chance (in fact, the attorney said this was "common 
practice"--the particular trick they pulled, how they categorized the 
shipments to get out of paying royalties, etc.--and we'd probably lose).

And things are just getting worse. 

The public generally feels that the creators should be compensated and should 
have their copyrights protected. If we can get across that this is NOT about 
protecting the artists and NOT about protecting their rights, it might reach 
more people.

I need to do some research on some of the cases of what's happening to the 
creators of "content." See what I could whip up as a flyer or article on a 
website. Something to get across to people that the creators are being 
screwed, the programmers are being screwed, and the *public is being screwed. 
All so a few media corporations can squeeze some more cash out of us all.

Mark (rambling again)


On Tuesday 31 July 2001 16:26, Keith Handy wrote:
> I suggest we make a worldwide call for support from artists, musicians,
> and authors in addition to programmers.
>
> I say this because although some publishing companies might have the
> decency to speak out on this manner, the DMCA works on their behalf.
> This applies as well to the major record labels, bloated software
> companies, and so forth.  The internet, from its arrival into popular
> culture, has primarily been a threat to MARKETING ENTITIES and other
> such middle-men.  The DMCA was pushed into law, I think, by their fear
> (a fear legitimately grounded in the reality) that we might not need
> them anymore.
>
> As any technology comes into existence, there is a public backlash
> because of the shifts in power, and the eradicating of the needs that
> employ some of us.  If the invention of a new machine eliminated the
> need for certain laborers, those people lost their jobs.  Often times
> there were moves to outlaw or heavily restrict the new technology for
> this very reason, and innovators were sacrificed for the short-term good
> of the workers.
>
> It is my impression that this is exactly what passed the DMCA, only now
> the ones fearing for their jobs happen to have an obscene amount of
> prestige and buying power.  It is not a copyright law; we already *had*
> copyright law, and it was more than enough to serve its original purpose
> of guaranteeing authors (and other creative people) the right to profit
> from the work of their own minds.  If someone blatantly ripped off your
> work and passed it off as their own, you could take them to court, prove
> it, and get the money that should have been yours.
>
> But the proponents of DMCA, as far as I can tell, are not artists,
> writers, musicians, or programmers.  They are, as far as I can tell,
> MARKETING PEOPLE, who are quite possibly in mortal fear of their own
> obsoletion.
>
> I am almost tempted to feel sympathy for them, but after reading
> numerous accounts (often from the artists themselves, look up Courtney
> Love's essay for a prime example) about how they've been ripping off
> their own clients for years, I don't believe that rescuing them from the
> inevitable is a high moral priority at this point.  Those who have been
> good and fair to their artists will probably continue to be empolyed by
> those artists, even as the nature of the work changes.
>
> Yes, I know I'm making extremely broad generalizations (I'm certainly
> not speaking for Metallica here), but I think this is the general
> anatomy of the issue, and I think we could get a few *huge*, well-known
> names (not just computer legends, but the kind of celebrities that
> non-computer people would listen to) speaking out on our behalf -- if we
> bypass the middlemen -- and bring our cause out into the light.
>
> -Keith
>
> P.S. if you haven't seen my piggy yet:
> http://www.indierecords.com/protest/pig.htm
>
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