The Resilience of Music Copyrights: Technological Innovation, Copyright Disputes and Legal Amendments Concerning the Distribution of Music

Authors

  • Staffan Albinsson School of Business, Economics and Law, University of Gothenburg, Sweden

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135401

Keywords:

Music copyright, intellectual property rights, technological shifts, cultural economics

Abstract

The introduction of the Internet and the convenient, although often illicit, file-sharing of copyrighted artistic products which it made possible has put Intellectual Property Right/IPR laws under stress. It is not the first and possibly not the last time that this phenomenon has occurred in connection with a technological shift. This paper contains a short history of the fundamentals of the processes which led to the incorporation of new means of distribution of artistic products in the Intellectual Property Rights regulations. It starts with music printing technology in Venice around the year 1500. It takes a leap to the recording devices of four centuries later. Via the introduction of broadcast devices, it ends with the blank media levies. The paper describes the events in the countries that created the first legal documents for these four types of technological inventions. Arguments pro and con IPR law differ but stakeholder positions remain the same.

References

Albinsson, Staffan (2012): ‘The Advent of Performing Rights in Europe’, Music and Politics, 6:2, DOI: dx.doi.org/10.3998/mp.9460447.0006.20 (accessed 13 June 2013)

Albinsson, Staffan (2013a): Nothing new Under the Sun: Essays on the Economic History of Intellectual Property Rights in Music, Gothenburg Studies in Economic History, no 8, Gothenburg: Department for Economy and Society, University of Gothenburg, Introductory chapter available on: gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/32756/3/gupea_2077_32756_3.pdf (accessed 13 June 2013)

Albinsson, Staffan (2013b): ‘Sound Earnings? The Income Structure of Swedish Composers1990–2009’, Review of Research on Copyright Issues, 10:1, 36-73.

Bolter, J. David & Richard Grusin (2000): Remediation: Understanding New Media, Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.

Bundestag (1962):‘Begrundung zum Entwurf eines Gesetzes uber Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte’, Drucksache IV/270, 23.03.1962: www.urheberrecht.org/law/normen/urhg/1965-09-09/materialien/ds_IV_270_A_01_00.php3 (accessed 5 April 2013).

Chrysander, Friedrich (1877): A Sketch of the History of Music-Printing, from the Fifteenth to the Nineteenth Century, Second Period (continued), The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular, 18:414, 375-378. DOI: 10.2307/3354491

Cummings,William H (1885): ‘Music Printing’, Proceedings of the Musical Association, 11th Sess. (1884-1885), 99-116.

Deazley, Ronan (2008): ‘Commentary on the Statute of Anne 1710’, Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds): Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

Defoe, Daniel (1704): ‘An Essay on the Regulation of the Press’, Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

De la Durantaye, Katharina (2006): Ruhm und Ehre. Der Schutz literarischer Urheberschaft im Rom der klassischen Antike, Forum Historiae iuris: fhi.rg.mpg.de/articles/pdf-files/0604deladurantaye.pdf (accessed 5 April 2013).

Fleischer, Rasmus (2012): Musikens politiska ekonomi, Stockholm: Ink förlag.

French Censorship Act (1547): Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

French Literary and Artistic Property Act (1793): Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

Gaita, Katerina and Andrew F. Christie (2003): Principle or Compromise? Understanding the Original Thinking Behind Statutory Licence and Levy Schemes for Private Copying, Intellectual Property Research Institute of Australia, Working Paper No. 04/04.

Gitelman, Lisa (1997): ‘Reading Music, Reading Records, Reading Race: Musical Copyright and the U.S. Copyright Act of 1909’, The Musical Quarterly, 81:2. Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/mq/81.2.265

Gitelman, Lisa (2008): Always Already New; Media, History and the Data of Culture, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Granstrand, Ove (1999): The Economics and Management of Intellectual Property; Towards Intellectual Capitalism, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Hase, Hellmuth von (1968): Breitkopf und Härtel; Gedenkschrift und Arbeitsbericht, Volym 3, Wiesbaden: Breitkopf und Härtel.

Henrician Proclamation (1538): ‘Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900)’, Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

Herbert v. Shanley Co. (1917): U.S. Supreme Court 242 U.S. 591: caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=242&invol=591 (accessed 5 April 2013).

Intellectual Property Office (IPO): www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-faircomp-full-201110.pdf (accessed 5 April 2013).

Johannes of Speyer's Printing Monopoly (1469): Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

Kretschmer, Martin (2011): Private Copying and Fair Compensation: An empirical study of copyright levies in Europe, Intellectual Property Office (IPO), www.ipo.gov.uk/ipresearch-faircomp-full-201110.pdf (accessed 5 April 2013).

Lenneberg, Hans (2003): On the Publishing and Dissemination of Music 1500-1850, Hilldale, NY: Pendragon Press.

Luther, Martin (1545): ‘Warning to the Printers’, Lionel Bently & Martin Kretschmer (eds). Primary Sources on Copyright (1450-1900): www.copyrighthistory.org (accessed 5 April 2013).

Moniteur Belge (2009): ‘Arrêté royal modifiant l’arrêté royal du 28 mars 1996 relatif au droit à rémunération pour copie privée’, 16 decembre 2009: www.ejustice.just.fgov.be/mopdf/2009/12/23_1.pdf (accessed 5 April 2013).

Moore, Julia V. (1987): Beethoven and Musical Economics, PhD dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Putnam, George Haven (1896): The Question of Copyright: Comprising the Text of the Copyright Laws of the United States, a Summary of the Copyright Laws at present in Force in the Chief Countries of the World, BiblioBazaar, LLC.

Remick v. American Automobile Accessories Co. (1925): Circuit Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. April 9, case no. 4190.

Remick & Co. v. General Electric Co. (1926): The Music Trade Review, vol. LXXXIII. No. 25, 39.

Reschke, Johannes (2010): Die verfassungs- und dreistufentestkonforme Auslegung der Schranken des Urheberrechts – zugleich eine Überprüfung von § 52b UrhG, Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht Unipress.

RGBl (1901): ‘Urheberrecht an Werken der Literatur und der Tonkunst’, Deutsches Reichsgesetzblatt, 1901: 27, 227-239: de.wikisource.org/wiki/Gesetz_betreffend_das_Urheberrecht_an_Werken_der_Literatur_und_der_Tonkunst (accessed 5 April 2013).

Schumpeter Schumpeter, Joseph (1942/2010): Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, London: Routledge.

Strömberg, Niklas (2012): ‘Vinnare & förlorare’, Filter, 29.

Tiersot, Julien (1925): ‘Les livres de Petrucci’, Revue de Musicologie, 7:17, 18-27.

Tonbandvervielfaltigungen (1971): Die Regelung in § 53 Abs. 5 UrhG fur private Tonbandvervielfaltigungen verletzt keine Grundrechte der Geratehersteller. 1 BvR 775/66: www.servat.unibe.ch/dfr/bv031255.html (accessed 5 April 2013).

Urheberrechtgesetz (1965): Gesetz uber Urheberrecht und verwandte Schutzrechte (Urheberrechtsgesetz), Bundesgesetzblatt I 1273: www.gesetze-im-internet.de/urhg/BJNR012730965.html (accessed 5 April 2013).

Volgsten, Ulrik (2012): Musiken, medierna och lagarna: musikverkets idéhistoria och etablerandet av en idealistisk upphovsrätt, Möklinta: Gidlunds förlag.

Downloads

Published

2013-09-26

How to Cite

Albinsson, S. (2013) “The Resilience of Music Copyrights: Technological Innovation, Copyright Disputes and Legal Amendments Concerning the Distribution of Music”, Culture Unbound, 5(3), pp. 401–424. doi: 10.3384/cu.2000.1525.135401.