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Copyright

Considering the “next great copyright act”

Wired recently published an article titled “Copyright Chief Urges Congress to Produce ‘Next Great Copyright Act’ regarding upcoming testimony on copyright to congress.  As Mitch Stoltz and Parker Higgins from the Electronic Frontier Foundation state “if it’s open season on the Copyright Act, let’s be involved from the start.” Music educators ought to be a part of any conversation concerning new copyright laws. Whether addressing issues related to engagement with digital music or what students and teachers can or cannot do… Read More »Considering the “next great copyright act”

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… Read More »Best Practices in Fair Use – A Helpful Resource!

Current Events & Copyright

Today in my secondary general music methods class we discussed how one can use current events as a springboard for classroom discussion and lessons. In the spirit of that discussion I figured  I’d write about a recent set of issues relating to the discourse of copyright and the presidential election. I’ve written here about copyright several times before and I always look forward to updates on James Frankel’s “Copyright or Copywrong” series because it’s an issue that I think plays… Read More »Current Events & Copyright

Ripping CDs & Copyright: Legal or Illegal? Authorized or Unauthorized?

I’ve been closely following recent dialogue over the legality of transferring music from a legally purchased CD to a computer. The web has been abuzz since Marc Fisher wrote in a recent article that the RIAA considers the practice of transferring music from a legally purchased CD, illegal. This information quickly spread around the web. Recently an engadget article pointed out that the RIAA legal brief was targeting the sharing of the ripped files as the illegal act and that… Read More »Ripping CDs & Copyright: Legal or Illegal? Authorized or Unauthorized?

Copyright in (and out) of the classroom……

The issue of copyright came up in class today as it does very often. While I was explaining to a 7th grade general music class how we could apply what we have been learning about pitch, tone color, harmony, melody and rhythm by creating music in FLstudio, a student who had already downloaded the demo version at his house told me he ” inserted the voice of the Southpark character Mr. Garrison into the music” he made at home. I… Read More »Copyright in (and out) of the classroom……