Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Blog #9

Remix Part 1

Introduction

Lessig's chief point in the introductory section of Remix is to call attention to the irrationality of the "war on piracy" by pointing out the areas where the argument clearly cannot be won, and highlighting some of the creative uses in which a more open media culture is preferable. He carefully does this without condemning copyright - as he supports and cites the necessity of copyright - but at the same time recognizes that as it is enforced now and viewed by corporate culture it is unenforceable on the current state of American and European culture due to its understanding of the value of media.

+rw vs read-only culture and John Philip Sousa

Lessig uses Sousa's arguments in defense of stronger copyright to support an argument in defense of weaker copyright than what seems to be currently in play. Sousa argued before Congress that the phonograph and the player piano would, in essence, make creativity solely accessible to those professionally trained and employed and that at the same time, they robbed those professional composers of royalties. Sousa's argument wasn't designed to eradicate participatory creative culture, but to protect it (and at the same time, his own interests.)

Lessig uses that foundation to support an argument that there are two forms of production of culture - the R/W or read/write culture and the RO or read-only culture. In the RO culture, there are two parties - the consumer and the producer. The producer creates the content that the consumer consumes, and never the twain shall meet except through the chosen medium of the producer. A sort of caste system borne out of individual marketability.

This sort of culture will stagnate almost immediately (as it has at any number of times in the music industry alone.) Where R/W culture takes over is where the consumer takes over the act of production and the producer works hard to keep up. The rise of Jazz, Rock & Roll, modern Folk music, Funk, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal and Grunge were all more or less causally linked to the stagnation of commercialized (read: stagnated) producer-mediated popular music.

Lessig argues for a future where individual talent and training is less required to produce, shall we say, "consumable" content and musical or audiovisual culture becomes as nearly fully open and R/W as in Sousa's time before the phonograph.

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1 comment:

  1. This issue of stagnation you mention ("The rise of Jazz, Rock & Roll, modern Folk music, Funk, Hip Hop, Heavy Metal and Grunge were all more or less causally linked to the stagnation of commercialized (read: stagnated) producer-mediated popular music") really carries throughout the text and, to me, seems to be his biggest argument (well, against stagnation that is). Good find.

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