Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.
Loading... Theft: A History of Musicby James Boyle, Keith Aoki, Jennifer Jenkins
Loading...
Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Perhaps the coolest thing here is how laws and regulations can shape entire industries in fundamental ways. This might seem like a banal observation but watching the evolution of music over hundreds of years being shaped by laws and their long-term consequences is enough to instill anyone with an appreciation for the history-shaping effects of legal debate. Also, regulation is tough business. There are no easy answers when something as universal as musical notation can be used a mechanism of control. The comic is full of subtle references from art, literature and popculture (perhaps in keeping with the author's idea of "theft"), but on the whole doesn't get too creative with the form. Few pages do stand out for their creative brilliance, but only a few. It's understandably focused on function more than form, and there are some highlights like the split-personality thing they use to illustrate the two sides of the copyright debate. Recommend to those who'd like to dive into the legal side of the music industry in an accessible and fun way. It has been more important in shaping today's music scene than we might reckon. no reviews | add a review
"This comic lays out 2000 years of musical history. A neglected part of musical history. Again and again there have been attempts to police music; to restrict borrowing and cultural cross-fertilization. But music builds on itself. To those who think that mash-ups and sampling started with YouTube or the DJ's turntables, it might be shocking to find that musicians have been borrowing--extensively borrowing--from each other since music began. Then why try to stop that process? The reasons varied. Philosophy, religion, politics, race--again again, race--and the law. An because music affects us so deeply, those struggles were passionate ones. They still are. The history in this book runs from Plato to Blurred Lines and beyond. You will read about the Holy Roman Empire's attempts to standardize religious music using the first great musical technology (notation) and the inevitable backfire of that attempt. You will read about the troubadours and church composers, swapping tunes (and remarkably profane lyrics), changing both religion and music in the process. You will see diatribes against jazz for corrupting musical culture, against rock and roll for breaching the color-line. You will learn about the lawsuits that, surprisingly, shaped rap. You will read the story of some music's iconoclasts--from Handel and Beethoven to Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ray Charles, the British Invasion and Public Enemy. To understand this history fully, one has to roam wider still--into musical technologies from notation to the sample deck, aesthetics, the incentive systems that got musicians paid, and law's 250-year struggle to assimilate music, without destroying it in the process. This is that story. It is assuredly not the only history of music. But it is definitely a part--a fascinating part--of that history. We hope you like it."--Back cover. No library descriptions found. |
Current DiscussionsNone
Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)346.0482Social sciences Law Private Law Property Law Intellectual Property Law CopyrightLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
Is this you?Become a LibraryThing Author. |
Written by two law professors it tries to show that most of the music is basically a remix. And how copyright laws which were started for a good cause could stop the innovation in this field. Good thing technology in recent years made music available for anyone to listen as well as create it. I believe this quote from the book sums it up pretty well:
P.S. Make sure to follow the audio companion of the book which makes it so much more interactive! ( )