Is Copyright a Good Thing for the Copyright "Middle Class"? - Mark A. Fischer

Welcome Mark A Fischer our newest MediaBizBloggerIs copyright a good thing or is copyright just in the way Ok I39m a copyright lawyer so you might be able guess what I39ll sayThanks to changing and lessprotective copyright laws and the Internet there is so much more content available than ever But it39s tough for copyright creators to be in the middle of the economic changes amp8211 and to make moneyThe effect of the Internet on content owners really can39t be overstated In Jaron Lanier39s new book quotWho Owns the Futurequot he builds upon his earlier writings to suggest that the Internet is fundamentally restructuring our social and economic base It39s half of a great book because after an insightful even brilliant analysis of how the Internet is reshaping the media and our economy he proposes a kind of solution that is palpably unworkable to restore the quotmiddle classquot namely a kind of quotcentral regulatorquot to monetize digital behavior An quotAquot for effort thoughFor example Lanier compares the number of employees that Kodak had in its heyday and how few say Instagram hired You get the picture The Internet promotes efficiency as does technology generally Robotics to name just one example The Google driverless car to name a second It can be tough being a human when looking for a jobCopyright used to be enforced mostly because it was so hard and expensive to copy in mass quantities and distribute Obviously the Internet has made worldwide inexpensive and superefficient copying and distribution authorized and unauthorized possible With infringement much more pervasive the money to be derived from exploitation of copyrighted works is harder to find That39s not exactly newsMusic is of course the poster child for the effect of these changes in copyright and technology As has been well documented the quotmiddleclassquot of musicians who could support themselves via their music has substantially diminished TV and motion pictures are seeing the same effectAuthorlawyer Scott Turow and others have pointed to the quoterosionquot of copyright arising from weakened copyright laws affecting importation and piracy Technologies such as Aereo whose legality is so far been upheld by courts in early proceedings with more litigation to follow enable companies and ordinary users like us to bypass the control that copyright owners and their distributors used to enjoy The federal courts continue to find ways to enhance the quotfair usequot defense under which reusers can reproduce copyrighted works without obtaining permission and without paying a feeWithout strong copyright the copyrightreliant media simply have to change There is no other choice Copyright businesspeople and copyright academics can fight over policy but that39s the real world impactWhat does this mean for media businesses With nimbleness prized the copyright middleclass of infrastructure players such as production houses musicians sound engineers film editors independent producers etc are looking at a longterm future of very tight margins and much competition even from the people formerly known as consumers who now play in the professional sandboxesWhat does it mean If content is still king and it is there will be fewer kings among the millions of content creators Copyright and media industryeconomics will increasingly see a rarefied successful upper class that still does very well in all media There will also be a vast mass of smaller companies and individual creators who will sustain themselves with quotregularquot nonmedia jobs and be satisfied with impact from their workBut shortterm thinkers are being unnecessarily gloomy While those in the middle truly are a bit stuck today with platforms like YouTube and Spotify often being perceived as paying too little to support content providers But this time is merely a transition while a reshuffling of the media ecosystem is taking place With adjustments to the copyright law so that social media platforms and ISPs pay a fair share of revenue in addition to ensuring payments are made to creators we can incentivize creativity and rebuild the middle class of copyrightMark A Fischer is a partner at Duane Morris LLP based in Boston and New York City His law practice is focused on solving problems and making deals for innovative companies institutions and individuals Mr Fischeramp8217s clients are typically in the creative industries such as new media social networking music interactive entertainment information technology software television publishing and toys He may be contacted at mafischerduanemorriscomRead all Mark39s MediaBizBloggers commentaries at Mark A FischerCheck us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggerscomFollow our Twitter updates MediaBizBloggerThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively the views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaBizBloggerscom management or associated bloggers MediaBizBloggers is an open thought leadership platform and readers may share their comments and opinions in response to all commentariesImage courtesy of cooldesignFreeDigitalPhotosnet

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Is Copyright a Good Thing for the Copyright "Middle Class"? - Mark A. Fischer

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