Deepening insights into copyright and culture

Abstract

Reviews the books, Reclaiming fair use: How to put the balance back in copyright, by Patricia Aufderheide and Peter Jaszi (see record 2011-18082-000) and Pop song piracy: Disobedient music distribution since 1929, by Barry Kernfeld (2011). The book by Aufderheide & Jaszi fuse careful legal scholarship with accessible writing, useful advice, and fuel for a growing movement. Roughly the first half of the book recounts the history of copyright law, especially the shifting, contested interpretations over the past several decades. The rest of the book is a roadmap for how to use fair use. It recounts how user communities, starting with documentary filmmakers, created space for fair use by creating legally-vetted codes of best practices a process the authors have helped lead. The book is understandable but regrettable false equivocation between the two sides in the debate, such as the contention that the clash of two extreme agendas effectively sidelined the concept of balance in copyright law. The book by Kernfeld is a fine volume of pure scholarship. It provides passion for the history of American music leaps off the page. He retraces the last eight decades of the unauthorized distribution of music, from the illicit distribution of song lyrics and sheet music to peer-to-peer trading. The book is a highly readable, meticulously researched, detailed history, and it will speak to anyone interested in the history of music, the circulation of popular culture, and the tension between law and the demand for entertainment. Overall, both the books are important contributions and great reads. Anybody with an interest in the cultural, economic, or legal significance of the circulation of copyrighted works will quickly appreciate the books. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)