CopyRight or CopyLeft

When a child, in elementary school for example, gets caught cheating or copying on a test or an assignment the teacher is most likely to tell the child never to do it again because stealing someone else's ideas is never acceptable.  In high school, the penalty for cheating or copying is even worse; the student could even be kicked out of classes and organizations that he/she is a part of.  But in the music industry many can argue that that is the total opposite from the truth.  That copying or "sampling" another artists work can be a good thing, that it builds upon and helps create a healthy public domain.

There are many though, who believe that this is still a very bad thing, mainly the owners of that certain copyright.  There is even a whole government sector that is dedicated to the stoppage of copyright infringement and to see that those who ignore their warnings are severely punished.  This mainly includes a ridiculously high number of fines.  I for one am able to see where each party is coming from although I tend to think that I am rooting for those who want to cut back on those copyright laws.  

Artists like Girl Talk and The White Panda (mentioned in an earlier blog) are technically are violating many of the copyright laws.  This video below explains the situation in more depth.

The original creator of this documentary: Brett Gaylor, has allowed for his video to be cut and remixed any way anyone likes it.  Above is an example of one of the remix's.  

Even though Girl Talk's music is not necessarily legal, it still is pretty amazing.  Anyone who see's what he does and how he creates his music is stupid to say that it's not art...in fact it's probably the exact definition of it.

(here's an example)

-Brooks Gonzales