Three Moments of Realization

     Music and copyright laws. A subject, a dilemma, a controversy that continues to be argued day after day, especially in Western music culture. The concern of someone (or something, as in corporations) not being paid every dime they 'deserve' for use of all or partial songs is an issue that is constantly being debated. Large music production companies want stricter copyright laws. In "Good Copy, Bad Copy", some of the CEO's talk about the need to make to it harder and more strenuous for people to pirate their products. But why so much worry?
In the sixth minute of the video, around six minutes and 50 seconds, a lawyer discusses de minimis non curat lex which can translate from Latin, more or less, into "the law isn't concerned with insignificant offenses." So many producers in North America have made huge issues out of DJ's like Girl Talk, due to their two second use of a beat of a song. To me, this raises the question of: can anything be 100% original anymore? Artists have been producing music for over 150 years now. Beats and chords will, they must, repeat themselves. Is it not pirating for one movie producer to use the same plot for their romantic-comedy, with different characters and different lines? It is the same base. It is the same plot: guy wants girl/girl wants guy, they get together, something raises conflict and makes them disconnect, the issue is resolved and the ending fades out with the protagonists locking lips on a beach (or a park, or a boat, or in a winter wonderland, etc.). Questions are not raised about this. But music production companies will fight to the end of time to make sure a 3-note chord that was used by an artist 50 years ago, is not used as the base to a song with different lyrics and a different voice during 2015.
     In the 36th minute, and around the 26th second of the documentary, someone quotes, "There's no indication that consumers mind paying artists. There's plenty of indication that consumers aren't happy to pay corporations." As a music lover and a music consumer myself, I must say that I completely agree with this statement. This documentary shows interviews in the United States with ONLY the executives of big music production companies. Besides Girl Talk, who is for filesharing and downloading of music, no other artists are interviewed. Furthermore, no the companies are the ones concerned with the financial loss that their companies have experienced. Never once do they mention the concerns of the artists themselves. In the digital age, remixing is going to happen. It will not be stopped. And it seems that the artists are not the ones to care. Consumers, in my opinion, agree that using the exact same beat, the exact sheet music, of another artist and putting different words over it is a huge no-no. No one is saying in this documentary, that is for filesharing, that copyright laws should be done away with completely. A few people in the documentary even talk about this, saying that without copyright laws, people would not want to invent new things due to not being recognized for these achievements. Consumers, like myself, believe in respecting the music. But respecting the music can be done through sampling. Respect can still be given through remixing. In the 50th minute, around the 14th second of the documentary, DJ Dhino says, "About the copyright, the artists don't worry about it. They don't want to make money through copyright, but from making shows and being successful in that way." This is in Brazil. Far from the United States. But if one would look at the change in delivery of music in the past 10 years, music festivals are the way that musicians make majority of their money. Attending music festivals has become the trend of the 21st century. Seeing your favorite artists and DJ's live, and paying a good amount to do so, is how consumers believe they are contributing to their musicians. What this documentary did for me, was cause me to realize that these copyright battles aren't about the music, they aren't about the artists. These battles are about the money. The money that multi-billion dollar corporations are so concerned about losing. Absurdity and greed at their finest.