I’ve got a new post up at Roots Music Canada, why copyright infringement isn’t theft, which draws on William Patry’s book, Moral Panics and the Copyright Wars, to explain that theft is a poor metaphor for copyright infringement. Canadian law professor Stephen Waddams, in a well-regarded book about how we […]
Free Culture
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This post originally appeared on Roots Music Canada. When I tell someone that all of my recordings are downloadable for free, I’m often asked, “but… how will you make money?” “Well,” I’ll respond, “since it doesn’t cost me anything, I may as well let people share and listen to my […]
I had a bit of a moment yesterday. It’s just that I’m so incredibly excited and energized right now. I’m starting to move on a variety of really cool projects and endeavours. A little over a year ago, I claimed I was about to “up the diversity” on this blog. […]
This post originally appeared on Techdirt. We were just talking about how SOCAN, the Canadian copyright collection society, was going after gymnastics clubs for kids using music in their practice routines. Now they’re getting some well-deserved attention for other antics. Michael Geist explains how SOCAN tried to keep its submission […]
I’ve tightened up my post on why free music doesn’t mean devalued music for Techdirt. If you’ve read the original, it’s largely the same content, but cleaned up a little and much more concise. Free Doesn’t Mean Devalued: The concept of zero took ages for societies to recognize, let alone […]
Credit: Brent and MariLynn [CC BY] Mike Masnick questions the word “balance” in the copyright debate: I’ve long thought that balance is the wrong way to look at it. The purpose of copyright law is to incentivize the creation of new content, and thus the standard on which copyright law […]
One of my closest friends, Pat Lee, has a webcomic, The Fantastical Adventures of Caspian the Sea-Devil. The “about” section contains this fantastic gem on art and originality: This comic, like all comics, consists of written and drawn elements. The written element, the story, will be somewhat guided by my […]
Update: A more condensed version of this post was published on Techdirt. Mike Masnick does a great job of explaining why some libertarian and “free market” types freak out when they see a zero dollar price tag. The concept of zero took ages for societies to even recognize, nevermind understand. […]
I submitted the following to the Canadian Copyright Consultation, a little hastily as midnight approached on the initial deadline. It’s built off the same notes I used to speak from at the townhall. Copyright matters to me for a variety of reasons. I’m a musician, writer and programming. I was […]