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  • From: Jonathan Zittrain <zittrain AT law.harvard.edu>
  • To: tom poe <tompoe AT amihost.com>
  • Cc: Community Studios <community_studios AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Community_studios] Re: copyright cage comment
  • Date: Fri, 15 Aug 2003 11:02:42 -0400

Tom,

Thanks much for your note. I'll check out your site -- apart from the topics in the copyright article, I'm very interested in the free software movement, and am working now on a paper about SCO v. IBM. We've got our own GPL'd offering at <http://h2o.law.harvard.edu>. Another torch lit...

And, sure, link away!

Best,
JZ

At 04:26 PM 8/3/2003, tom poe wrote:
Hi: Enjoyed your article. Found it most interesting. Would like to
link to it for others on our web site.

Stanford's CCRMA site and the Agnula site [consortium of research
institutes and universities in Europe] offer Open Source solutions for
loading a low-end computer with everything needed to learn how to read
and write music, make professional quality recordings, and, when
combined with applications like Cinelerra, make theater-quality movies
[full featured movies]. Obviously, the cost to individuals is something
less than $1000USD, and the cost of producing competing products in
entertainment is measured in pennies, not millions of dollars.

When such equipment is used, the ability of an individual to utilize the
Internet to communicate with a worldwide audience, by placing their demo
works on the Internet Archive, or with Ibiblio.org, and their own web
sites, opens up a new world for musicians, artists, and authors.

At some point, or at least in the mind of Open Studios, every community
in every country will have a community-based recording studio offering
residents free recording services. If not before, then surely at that
point, copyright law will have to change, as it will be demonstrated
beyond doubt that individuals can indeed make money without the aid of
copyright. At the same time, some restrictions can be retained as seen
as reasonable, not by special interest groups, but by the public.

For those of us at Open Studios, the work being done at Creative Commons
Project represents such future changes suggested above.

In your article, you mentioned:"Overhauling copyright will have costs to
some. In the absence of tough copyright controls, investors may decide
not to underwrite a $200 million blockbuster film because copying of the
final product may unduly reduce their expected profit."

Independent films have proliferated as technology has advanced. In the
Digital Age, the cost is now down to a point that most individuals are
able to enter into movie-making. Over time, there is every reason to
expect that independent films which are able to be shown in a wide range
of venues, from libraries to coffee houses, to bars, to restaurants will
impact on the public's interest in Hollywood. The day of the $200
million blockbuster would seem to be ending. The attraction for
Sundance Studios and other firms emphasizing independent films will
offer investors far greater returns on their investment. Maybe, just
maybe, there will be yet another reason for Hollywood, the RIAA, and the
MPAA to engage in histrionics!
Thanks,
Tom Poe
Open Studios
Reno, NV
http://www.studioforrecording.org/





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