I had read this article before and it is interesting, upon coming across it again I thought it worth a mention here.
Excerpts below and full article at the link.
Brooks shares copyright insights with W&M students
Published on November 11, 2015
https://libraries.wm.edu/about/news/2015/11/brooks-shares-copyright-insights-wm-students
... .. Brooks, who retired in 2007 as executive vice president of research for Lifetime Television, met last week with several groups of students and faculty at William & Mary, including a History of Western Music class and the university’s radio station, WCWM. ....
... DeLaurenti conducted a research study last year on what undergraduate students think of music copyright. “One of the big conclusions of the study was that all of the students felt like they didn't know enough and it was a very complicated issue,” she said. .... ...
“Having Tim Brooks here, a national leader on issues relating to music copyright, is a great opportunity for the students to get to meet an expert and ask some burning questions about how music copyright works, what maybe isn't working so well and how they can be involved in making it better,” she said. .... ..
One student asked Brooks about whether laws are created for the benefit corporate copyright holders.
“You have to understand what’s driving them,” Brooks replied, adding that many in the recording industry care about music but their jobs depend on whether the company is making money... ...
The U.S. is now a country that runs largely on intellectual property, Brooks said, and, some argue, that must be protected differently ... .... and, now the country has some of the strictest copyright laws in the world in order to fend off practices such as the illegal downloading of music. However, in his research, Brooks found that most people aren’t looking to steal music or other programming. “They are willing to pay, but you’ve got to give them value for what they’re getting,” he said, ....
More commonly, many people encounter copyright issues on sites like YouTube or SoundCloud when they try to upload a video or podcast that includes portions of copyrighted music. Although “fair use” allows for exceptions – such as a professor using music clips in a lecture that is later posted online – copyright holders will sometimes press the issue, even threatening law suits. That is why it is important that people “accurately use all of the rights afforded to them,” said DeLaurenti.
- Because the laws are open to interpretation, people who are trying to determine whether their work falls under the fair use exemption should do a risk assessment of the situation, Brooks said. “There’s an old saying, ‘Do it and ask forgiveness later,’” he said, “and that’s true in copyright.
“It’s unfortunate that our copyright laws are so dysfunctional right now that a lot of it is kind of being made up as you go along. But again..... .....
Read full article: https://libraries.wm.edu/about/news/2015/11/brooks-shares-copyright-insights-wm-students