Best Practices in Fair Use – A Helpful Resource!

Thanks to Peter Webster for bringing to my attention an article in the Chronicle regarding a new guide to using copyrighted material in the classroom. The Guide entitled ” The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use for Media Literacy Education” is free to download in pdf format. While focusing on media literacy, this guide offers extremely valuable information for music educators. While much of the public discourse on copyright focuses on violations and lawsuits, far less is discussed about fair use doctrine and  students’/teachers’ rights.  If you make use of media in your classroom it’s worth your time to take a look at the guide.  While you’re at it -take a look at popular music scholar Philip Tagg’s perspective and experience on the use of YouTube clips in music education and how he navigated fair use in terms of takedown notices he received. We can learn much from his experiences. Finally if you haven’t taken a look at the Creative Commons  project and discussed copyright alternatives with your students, now might be a great time to do so.