James Boyle on Mashups, Borrowing and the Law

Video on the Public Domain via http://realserver.law.duke.edu/ramgen/fall08/cspd/11242008.rm

Description

"In this lecture, Professor Boyle discussed the history of a single song – a protest song about the government's inept response after Hurricane Katrina – and traced its lineage back through more than a century, with stops in the work of Kanye West, Ray Charles, Clara Ward and many others. Each of these musicians borrowed from the music of others before them, yet they borrowed in different ways, under different legal rules, in a different musical culture. Their music was shaped, for better and worse, by those constraints. At the end of the 100 year journey, we can have a sense of how the music of the future may be shaped, and of what our musical culture will give up in the process." (http://www.law.duke.edu/cspd/lectures/)