Joho the Blog
An Entry from the Archives

David Dixon tells how in 2001 he publicized an MP3 that performed a Beatles track in the style of Metallica. He did it without permission of the band that did it. Sony sent him a cease and desist letter. Lars of Metallica is actually on the right side in ths case, trying to get Sony to drop its stupid, bullying lawsuit. Sony is not pursuing the suit, although they also haven't dropped it.

Wendy Seltzer of the EFF says that this is a good example of chillling effects. The new means of distribution bring small-town bands under the gaze of big corporate property holders.

Naomi Novik is a fanfiction writer. She says she hasn't received any cease and desist orders. She talks about "fan vids": Clips from favorite shown over music tracks. "We're flying under the radar," she says. "The better the work is, the more likely it is to be hidden and hard to found" because "the people who write the better things are more aware" of the risks. The better writers, she says, post a few things publicly to draw people in, but keep the best hidden. She's trying to create a modified Creative Commons license that let people read a work and use it in fan fiction, while protecting the author from later getting sued by a fan who claims the author stole the idea from her.

Wendy: "I'm really distrubed to hear that we have fewer rights when we're dealing with richer media than when dealing with text."

Should the owner be allowed to control who gets to use or remix? Naomi says if you let someone, you have to let anyone. Walter McDonough of the Future of Music says that if an objectionable group were to do that to music made by one of his clients, he'd go ballistic.