Copyright in a Digital Age

Is sampling a form of copyright infringement?

I do believe that sampling without permission  is a form of copyright infringement. I think no matter how long the sample is whether it is 3 seconds or 1 minute, you should ask before you use it. Especially if you are getting paid for success on a track. You owe a small percent of that to the owner of that sample. I do not, however, think that the owner should become so disgruntled about the situation and take it to court in a nasty way. If anything, the new artist is bringing attention to your old and played out song. For example, when I hear a song with a sample in it, I try and figure out where it came from and I even end up liking the original better. 

Does repurposing a piece of music al ways have a detrimental effect on the way the original recording is perceived? Does it always cut into the profits of the owner of the original recording?

In most cases, repurposing the music does not have a damaging effect on the original meaning of the song. I think when someone samples your music, it is a form of idolization and respect.  would feel flattered if an artist chose to sample a piece of my work, as long as they acknowledged my effort and cut me a check.

Igor Stravinsky, who once said, “A good composer does not imitate; he steals.” Was Stravinsky condoning plagiarism and copyright infringement? What did he mean?

I don't think Stravinsky is condoning plagiarism at all. hee is saying that a real artist does not take someone else's work exactly as it is and call it their own craftsmenship. They take that piece and recreate it to express their own sense of style. Even the old Jazz band player in the film says that some people are so good that you can't even recognize that they took a sample of his work.

Special Guests Invincible and Waajeed

I absolutely enjoyed being able to talk to real underground artists in class the other day. You can really tell that Waajeed and Invincible really respect their craft and for those reasons I respect them.

One point I found really interesting was the MTV incident. I think it's very unfair that they refused to play her song on the air beacuse of its "suicidal undertones" when we see clear messages in mainstream artists all the time. People like Eminem, Britney Spears, and Lady Gaga whole music videos point to death and sometimes the song has nothing to do with it. But Invicible's song actually had meaning behind it and was somewhat of a outcry for the people in her community that have had to deal with someone close to them attempt or commit suicide.

Also, I looked Waajeed up on Wikipedia and he has a really successful background in music and I would have never known. Sometimes its better to be behind the scenes successful than in the spotlight all the time.



THE CELEBRITY USES OF TWITTER

Recently I learned that celebrities are being paid to tweet for certain companies on the popular social networking site Twitter. Since its creation in 2006, Twitter has gained popularity worldwide and is estimated to have 190 million users, generating 65 million tweets a day and handling over 800,000 search queries per day.It is sometimes described as the "SMS of the Internet". This shift from celebrities on TV commercials and billboards to social networking sites is no surprise in this age of technology. But the main question is: Are paid tweets really effective? In my opinion, paid tweets are no more influential than a comercial on television. According to John Bell, "weaken the overall value of social media which relies on trust first not reach". The only person really benefitting from this new trend is the celebrity. The fans aka "followers" are being used and deceived by the celebrity. We follow them because we want to know what is going on in their lives, not to see our timeline filled with advertisements. Vice-President and Co-Founder of ad.ly Derek Rey reports that they did over 22,000 endorsements on Twitter in 2010
and did not have one single negative event. He also stated that celebs such as Kim Kardashian and Justin Beiber average over 18,000 clicks per tweet. The heavy traffic Kardashian recieves allows her to be paid $10,000 per tweet.In an article I read by Eric Sherman, he argues that "paying for tweets is an activity for idiots".

Celebrities and Twitter

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2011/01/10/if-you-get-paid-to-tweet-disclose-it-uk-says/

According to Twitter's website, this is what Twitter's purpose is:

Twitter is a real-time information network that connects you to the latest information about what you find interesting. Simply find the public streams you find most compelling and follow the conversations.

Lately, many celebrities have been using their Twitter accounts to endorse and advertise different products and ideas.I recently discovered that celebrities such as Kim Kardashian, Soulja Boy, and Charlie Sheen get paid thousands by different companies to tweet. I do not understand how important anybody's tweets could be that they are worth thousands of dollars. If any money at all! This is just one of the many ways social media has changed society and its values again. Celebrities getting paid to tweet takes out the fun of following them. It's supposed to be genuine and a relaxed social environment. Must we be bombarded with ads everywhere we go?

The article I read talks about how the Federal Trade Commission has now made it an official rule for stars to disclose at the end of the tweet  if its a paid advertisement. I think this is very fair and seperates the good content worth reading from a stupid ad.

This video is an exclusive interview that the Business Insider ddi with Ms.Kardashian. I totally agree that Twitter should get a cut from companies paying the money to advertise via celebrities.

Week 7: Facebook (Catfish Film) and The Twitterverse

WHAT MAKES US PUT SO MUCH TRUST IN SOCIAL NETWORKING SITES?

In my opinion, I think we expect everyone to be as normal as ourselves. If we are using social networking sites for it's intended purpose then we just assume that majority is also. Many times social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr all have their own kind of world. We forget that outside this virtual community, is the real world. In the real world their sick minded people who abuse their basic human rights.

Even though we know people are making fake profiles, we still agree to "friend" them? And what does friendship really mean on Facebook?

Being someone's friend on Facebook has taken on a completely new meaning then what it would mean in real life. When we see someone's profile and we know them, we "friend" them. Some people like to brag about having so many friends on Facebook and having a lot of followers on Twitter. It's more like a game of how popular you can be amongst people you really do not know much about. Friendship on Facebook is simply the idea of being connected virtually.

What are the chances of what happened in the film happening in real life?

I think the chances are very high. People forget that this documentary was based off a nine month relationship or interaction. I think the extent that Nev went through to meet with the family and Megan was more than an average person would do,but then again all people are different so it just depends on who the person is. I know a girl at my high school who actually did this. She created several profiles posing as attractive boys. The target was girls at our school, many people believed they were real until she began to slip up and get caught in her web of lies. One girl even had a relationship with one of the fake boys which was really wierd.

Social Networking Parodies

Tweet Me...Facebook Me....Arrest Me?

Intro

Social networking has become one of the primary source of communication for people in our society today. In our class discussions on MySpace or My____, we learned that on social networking sites you can virtually become anyone that you wanted to be. With the power of Google Images, you do not even need your own picture. Even though the website clearly states what it's purpose is, the realities of society still misconstrue the fine lines of personal identity, privacy, and safety.

After reading the article SOCIAL NETWORKING WEBSITES: ARE MYSPACE AND FACEBOOK THE FINGERPRINT OF THE 21st CENTURY? by Edward M. Marsico, I was very pleased at how for once, social networking was being praised for something good in the community. There are plenty of crimes committed everyday and many of them go unsolved. We continually move into a more technology centered generation everyday, and by "centered", I mean everything is available online. So it only makes sense for law enforcement officials to move toward  this information medium also. I learned that police officers routinely use social networking sites to investigate crimes. It is no secret that there are idiots in the world who willingly post their devious actions on the Internet.

Sexual Predators

The most common crime involving the Internet and social networking is child pornography and sexual predators. One show that brought about a great amount of awareness was To Catch a Predator, which helped to catch culprits red- handed and prosecute them. In many court cases such as People vs. Clevenstine, the defendants claimed the evidence provided was not properly authenticated. Which basically means that they were trying to say they were not the ones who sent the messages. But, officers are much smarter because they secure the hard drives of both the victims and the defedants to show that the messages are in fact real and from the specified user. Also besides watching the activites of these people, law enforcement actually engages in it too. Sometimes, they create profiles posing as minors and trap sexual predators. This brings about the question as tois the Fourth Amendment is being tampered with, "whether people have a reasonable expectation of privacy". I say do whatever it takes to keep these sick individuals away from our youth.







Impact on the Young Society

We are young and indeed have new ideas on what is fun and cool. Technology and how easy it is to access is having a bitter sweet impact on our society. As fun as it is to tweet and facebook your friends about your everyday life, it is never okay to bully someone, humiliate someone by posting violent material, or post sexualy explicit items. I think the main problem is we are thinking of what is NOW and not what the future consequences will be. I am 100% sure no one who is prosecuted over internet crimes thought they would be in jail over it. I think if we advocate more on "thinking before we type", we could save the future generations from strict policies and embarassment.