On creating something, I think you should be able to profit from your labour, but attempting to control unofficial spread of something is usually futile [1] – the big music industry would be well advised to learn something from that, except I’m sure they’ll opt to go down kicking and screaming.

I also believe that the exclusivity to charge for content should be safeguarded. Not indefinitely, and not for the ridiculous amount of 50 years after death. More like a 10th of the that, regardless of whether the author is alive. Hang on a sec, am I suggesting only 5 years to profit from your creations before it’s free for others to use? Well yes, and here’s why…

There’s been a lot of buzz on productivity and lifestyle blogs about creating things that have long term value. The idea is, you create something and then it’ll continue to bring in money long after you’ve finished work on it. This is what copyright is all about, you have licence to profit from your creations for the length of the copyright. Sounds fair enough right? It appealing because it suggests we can create something wonderful, and if enough people like it, then we can sit back and reap the rewards.

I’m sorry, I don’t buy that. If someone does that, they’re no longer really contributing to society. They’re acting as a sink for wealth, even if they choose to redistribute it later. Wouldn’t changing this affect the creation of new media and content, especially if there’s no goal of being able to sit back and wait for $’s to roll in? Well, if you look at any prolific artist… they are hardly resting after they create something, they move on to the next project. People like working on projects[2]. People motivated primarily on how to make money already and inevitably fail as artists anyway[3].

Besides, I’m not arguing that an artist can no longer profit from their creation after 5 years. I’m just saying that it’s non-exclusive. Other people are free to mash-up, remix, promote and sell your content without a license. I believe in attribution though. If you use someone’s creative work, it’s just decency to acknowledge that. Trying to pass something off as your own is just being a dick [4]. And as a result of attribution, who’s going to benefit from that? The original artist. In today’s society, I feel that the main difficulty for an artist is that we’re in a constant poverty of attention. Trying to grab that attention, even momentarily, is an epic challenge. If an artist allows other people to use their old work, then they are also allowing other people to promote them through attribution. When a random consumer comes across the remixed/altered version, this in turn brings the original artist in to consumer’s mind. That’s the real value: attention and other peoples opinion.

As an example: I’m a DJ, so I worked with a lot of official remixes of original tracks. As a result of this, I actually pay quite a lot of attention to who the remixer is – because chanves are that I’d like other remixes they’ve done. But before I got so involved in dance music, I really didn’t care who the remixer was. I’d mainly be aware of the original artist.

Now, if copyright lasts for 50 years after the authors death [5], this seems just crazy. Who profits after the author’s death? Well, certainly not the creator. I’m guessing it’s usually the family, a trust, or a company that holds it then. And after the copyright is up and people are free to start remixing and reusing the content? Well, that’s hardly beneficial for the original artist. They’re dead!

There’s a bias towards age and experience, towards older people remaining in high power positions despite incompetence (although I guess this is true of younger people too – but they rarely get put in those positions). The problem is the expectation that people can work hard and then rest once they’ve made their mark. Since the people in power, and with money, want to keep that money, they can petition and shape laws to maintain their income streams. Individual artists are not the cause of this, but record companies conglomerating their artist’s copyrights are.

Disclaimer: IANAL and this is based on my general understand of copyright. I welcome corrections on any factually incorrect or misleading stuff.

[1] Assuming you can’t completely remove it, which would be analogous to making the content completely illegal and defeat the purpose of trying to sell it. If there was a stronger spatial component to the internet, and it wasn’t so highly connected, then maybe you’d have chance of controlling it. However, that would also require draconian policies that wouldn’t fit with the nature of the net (I’m a doctor in simulating spread dynamics, trust me!).

[2] At least the people I find myself surrounded with like working on projects. For which I’m very grateful for the resulting creative energy that motivates me.

[3] Unless they’re con-artists.

[4] I’m using ‘dick’ here as a highly technical and well-defined legal concept here.

[5] 50 years after death is a common minimum – some countries go up to 80 years! Even though the universal agreement between countries is for 25 years.

I can’t wait to see them along with Daft Punk this Friday in Melbourne!

Check it out if you feel like listening to a trip-hoppy mellow mix for a change.

JetPilot – Times like these…

Also, in the vein of Barnes’ face in Roskilde, my friends in Wellington (lead by the magnificent Tatjna) pioneered a plan to bring my face to the Bliss rave in Auckland. My doppelganger is a little hussy.

Survivalism
Me, I’m not
My Violent Heart
In this Twilight
The Beginning of the End

I feel a NIN obsession rising within me again, eek!

Did someone tell me that NIN was playing in Sydney soon? I may have to rob a bank to steal the money I need for this.

Also, I am back from KiwiBurn. People liked to dance while I DJed. Yay!

Still it’s good to have leeway, and I still have several more sites to host. Such as AmplifyMe and YourOI.com.

Also when my White Elephant radio show starts up in February, I’m going to record them and post them on my JetPilot site. I suspect they might downloaded a fair bit if I’m broadcasting their availability to most of Christchurch. Plus there is a steady increase in the number of visitors downloading my mixes. Yay!

Also my first live (in front of an audience that is, I’ve played live on radio) DJ gig is going to be at KiwiBurn. Rock!

One of the best NYEs in some time (I think I’m getting bored of alcohol).

Briefly my goals this year are:

Become an optimist even if my brain chemicals tell me otherwise.
Finish my PhD.
Get regular DJ gig in a club.
Moderate the drinking.
Cut down on the fatty foods.
Gym every weekday morning, run every evening.