January 15, 2009

Copyright Criminals: a new documentary

Speaking of YouTube audio filtering... There's a new documentary being finished:

'Copyright Criminals: This Is a Sampling Sport examines the creative and commercial value of musical sampling, including the related debates over artistic expression, copyright law, and (of course) money.
This documentary traces the rise of hip-hop from the urban streets of New York to its current status as a multibillion-dollar industry. For more than thirty years, innovative hip-hop performers and producers have been re-using portions of previously recorded music in new, otherwise original compositions. When lawyers and record companies got involved, what was once referred to as a “borrowed melody” became a “copyright infringement.'
It's mostly a fine line even if Coldplay/Eno-type excesses seem clear; pay-to-play, or payola, is a game of finesse. Here's the trailer:




Update: Via Infinicine and Shooting People, here's a similar project from another musical genre, RiP: A Remix Manifesto (director's blog):



Update: note also Good Copy Bad Copy.

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