Thursday, August 4, 2011

Week 1 Reading: Copyright

visions of m 16

Copyright- an creators protection (If you can create it, you can protect it)

This is one word that could get you in a lot of trouble if you are not careful. This week I learned that copyright goes beyond books, articles, and music but a dance could also be copyrighted. I remember in undergrad always trying to keep an account of everything I researched to get information for our big papers that we had in Music History. Copyright is not always a fun thing to do but at least once you really get it, you know what to do and what not to do. In writing a research paper, you must cite all of your sources so that it is very clear that some of the information you are using is not your own.

Certain citations have specific requirements. If you repeat a statement that you found in a book or article you have to cite the book and page that you got the quote from. Pretty much every quote that is not yours has to be cited with a page number and the author. This is only a certain citation system. I am a songwriter and I never thought about how important it was for an author or even a dance creator to protect their works.

I am glad that copyright allows you to protect what is yours, it is kind of like an alarm system for creators.

Copyright Picture
http://www.flickr.com/photos/man_from_md/6008832460/

4 comments:

  1. Tiffany-
    I like how you address the how copyright can benefit you as an artist. Keeping your work safe for you can put your mind at ease.

    Including how you used the citations in your undergrad work is great to have your students understand that you are protecting them and not just requiring it to create extra work.

    I would like to hear your thoughts on the other readings like creative commons or how fair usage helps you as an artist as well. I like how you see the positive of copyright as many people find copyright frustrating.

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  2. I completely understand the fact that is quite an “alarm system” as you stated. I had no idea about the extent to which music artist had to go to protect their work and the rules that determine a valid copyright. I always got how sampling so many minutes can cause problems but the fact that you in some way have to record everything you create just to protect seems strenuous. As an artist we can have the same issues when it comes to using other’s reference pictures and copyrights but like with your music one would one their creation protected as well, so I emphasize with the value.

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  3. Tiffany,

    Isn't it amazing how much trouble you can get into with just one word? Copyright is definitely a word that we all must be familiar with and know not only what it means but also the importance of it when we ourselves are creating things.

    I did not realize that dances and song lyrics were copyrighted but not plays and skits unless they are made into videos. This really amazed me.

    Being an educator, it is very important to understand all of the ins and outs of copyright. It is very easy to innocently violate this and it is unfair to the artist and creator!

    Your reference to citing for research papers and other school assignments is a great point! It is something that needs to be stressed throughout one's schooling from middle school to college!!!!

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  4. So a phrase cannot be copyrighted and a title cannot be copyright and an idea cannot be copyright (the latter can be patented, though). So, it's more than single words, but the whole work that is protected. Reference citation also protects the whole work but it's actually part of how research gets shared and propagated. There is a difference, the first being more about works of art whereas the second is more about scholarship and academic works.

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