Down with copyright laws?

This segment on the Colbert Report really got me thinking about copyright openness and how I feel about the restrictions music artists place on their work.

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Lawrence Lessig

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I subsequently went to Lessig's website (http://www.lessig.org/blog/) and downloaded his books as pdfs (for free). I have not read through them yet - I have skimmed them quickly though - but I have come to agree with him: our current copyright system is too restrictive. Now I'm not sure what the best solution is (though I am confident there is a problem). Creative Commons licensing seems to be heading in the right direction (http://creativecommons.org/), and many well known artists (in many different fields; music, photography, journalism, writing) are endorsing this direction by licensing their art with CC.

Now what reminded me about Lessig's segment on the Report was this page:
http://thru-you.com/#/videos/1/

The above link displays one man's amazing artistic combination of many Youtube videos all chopped up and sequenced together to make an entirely new product. Under traditional copyright, this type of thing would be walking a fine line between copyright infringement lawsuits and fair use.

In a digital age where people access the collective knowledge of the whole human population on their cell phones, a more uninhibited flow of information should be encouraged. Now, as a musician myself I understand the desire to protect copyright, and I also understand that music as a profession inherently requires the exchange of money. How should we progress in order that information can flow, creativity is encouraged - not stifled, and people can enjoy the creativity of others without worrying about being sued by the very people they admire?

I really don't know. But I know there needs to be changes made.

An Alternate session

The other day I had what I thought was a great idea. What if I set up a session in one of Purchase's recording studios without a set list of things to record, what if I invited people to play, to show up at any point during a certain time frame, and leave when they felt like it? What if some of the most talented musicians in the school played together for the purpose of enjoying themselves and making authentic music?

Well, I did it. Signed out a studio, miced up the room, started Pro Tools and didn't stop for six hours. I ignored stupid things like the door to the studio opening, people walking in and out, talking, setting up instruments, etc. The session revolved around capturing a moment in time where people gathered together and just made music without worrying about playing perfectly or wondering if the vibe was "right" for the song.

The experience was thoroughly enjoyable, at any given time three to eight jazz majors jammed together in the live room, while I sat behind the desk and enjoyed the sound. Occasionally, I would get up and move mics to capture the changing instrumentation more effectively.

What came out of this experience was an eleven gig PT session with enough great takes to make a double album. A double album which was truly a live album. An album that went back to what music, especially jazz, is all about - musical discourse and mutual enjoyment and creativity.

So what that there were errors? So what that the recording has noises interfering and could be clearer or better balanced? This is about as close to sitting in the room with the musicians as we can get after the fact. What better way to remember a great time? Yeah, ok, maybe your recording has more definition, and has no errors - my recording has more soul.