Washington, D.C.— Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling is a compelling new book that explores the complexities and contradictions in how music samples are licensed within the current copyright landscape. Including interviews with more than 100 stakeholders in the sampling community – from David Byrne, Cee-Lo Green, George Clinton, De La Soul, DJ Premier, DJ Qbert, Eclectic Method, El-P, Girl Talk, Matmos, Mix Master Mike, Negativland, Public Enemy, RZA, Clyde Stubblefield and T.S. Monk – Creative License puts digital sampling into an historical, cultural, and legal context.
Creative License on Duke University Press:
http://www.dukeupress.edu/Catalog/ViewProduct.php?productid=18772
Official Creative License website:
http://creativelicense.info/
FMC’s Creative License page:
http://futureofmusic.org/events/creative-license-book-release
Future of Music Coalition (FMC) is proud to collaborate with the authors, Duke University Press, Words Beats and Life and others with an unique book tour. To coincide with the release of Creative License, co-author Peter DiCola (Assistant Professor of Law at Northwestern University) will be speaking at a number of locations around the country:
Friday, April 15, 4:00-6:00 pm in Washington, DC
Peter DiCola at American University, Washington College of Law
Open reception + lecture/panel discussion, sponsored by the Copyright Society, the Glushko Samuelson Clinic, and the Center for Social Media. Following DiCola’s lecture and multimedia presentation, Professor Peter Jaszi, Jay Rosenthal of the National Music Publishers Association (NMPA) and FMC Senior Policy Strategist & Communications Director Casey Rae-Hunter will join in the conversation with comments. The event begins with drinks and appetizers at 4:00 PM and is scheduled to end at 6:00 PM. A live webcast will also be available via WCL website. More details and RSVP
Saturday, April 16, 5:30-7:00 pm in Washington, DC
Words Beats & Life and FMC present Peter DiCola with Producer/DJ Roddy Rod at Busboys and Poets at 14th & V St NW.
More details and register:
http://futureofmusic.org/events/creative-license-dc
Words, Beats & Life:
http://www.wblinc.org
Monday, April 18 in Philadelphia
Peter DiCola at Temple University
Tuesday, April 19, 6:00-8:00 pm in Philadelphia
Peter DiCola has a Junto conversation at P’unk Ave with Maxx Stoyanoff Williams from Black Landlord
Wednesday, April 20 in Philadelphia
Peter DiCola at Drexel University Music Industry Program
Thursday, April 21, 6:30 pm
Peter DiCola at Riverread Bookstore in Binghamton, NY
Tuesday, April 26 in Iowa City, IA
Peter DiCola and Kembrew McLeod at Prairie Lights Bookstore
Official events schedule:
http://creativelicense.info/events
Creative License describes hip-hop during its sample-heavy golden age in the 1980s and early 1990s; the lawsuits that shaped U.S. copyright law on sampling; and the labyrinthine licensing process that musicians must now navigate. Observing that the same dynamics creating problems for remixers now reverberate throughout all culture industries, the authors conclude by examining ideas for reform.
The scope of questions asked by McLeod and DiCola portray the intricacies of digital sampling: How did the Depression-era folk-song collector Alan Lomax end up with a songwriting credit on Jay-Z’s song “Takeover?” Why doesn’t Clyde Stubblefield, the primary drummer on James Brown recordings from the late 1960s like “Funky Drummer” and “Cold Sweat,” get paid for other musicians’ frequent use of the beats he performed on those songs? By examining music industry and artist responses to these cases and more, Creative License brings important perspective to a persistent issue in modern music culture.
About the Authors
Kembrew McLeod is Associate Professor of Communication Studies at the University of Iowa. He is the author of Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property and Owning Culture: Authorship, Ownership, and Intellectual Property Law, and co-creator of the documentary film Copyright Criminals.
Peter DiCola is Assistant Professor at Northwestern University School of Law. He is a board member and former Research Director of the Future of Music Coalition.
About Duke University Press
Duke University Press, internationally recognized as a prominent publisher of books and journals, publishes approximately 120 books annually and over 40 journals, as well as offering five electronic collections. The Press publishes primarily in the humanities and social sciences and is known as a publisher willing to take chances with nontraditional and interdisciplinary publications.
About Words, Beats & Life
Words Beats and Life was founded as a hip-hop conference at the University of Maryland, College Park in the fall of 2000. The brainchild of Mazi Mutafa, Executive Director, WBL was developed and researched at the University of Maryland with two fellow students who wanted to continue the hip-hop conference after graduation. Words Beats and Life exists as a vehicle to transform individual lives and communities through hip-hop. In 2003, WBL was officially incorporated as a nonprofit organization with 501c3 status in the District of Columbia and began developing its first program, The Urban Arts Academy.
Future of Music Coalition is a national non-profit education, research and advocacy organization that seeks a bright future for creators and listeners. FMC works towards this goal through continuous interaction with its primary constituency — musicians — and in collaboration with other creator/public interest groups. More