Copyright and musicians at the digital margins

Phillips, Tom ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1732-4514 and Street, John ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9650-063X (2015) Copyright and musicians at the digital margins. Media, Culture & Society, 37 (3). pp. 342-358. ISSN 0163-4437

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Abstract

While there is research into consumer attitudes to copyright and downloading, and the music industry has made clear its own views in evidence to the Hargreaves Review and other forums, relatively little is known about musicians’ attitudes to copyright. This article reports on those musicians who are negotiating the new terrain created by digitization and its accompanying business models. Are their attitudes to copyright simply determined by their financial self-interest and a sense of ownership of their music, or do they see copyright as a restriction of their creative freedom? Using the results of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with UK musicians, we show how a variety of factors – including generic conventions, knowledge and experience, and wider social values – contribute to attitudes to copyright. Although knowledge of, and interest in, copyright can be driven by financial self-interest, other considerations are in play. These findings have, as we explain, implications both for copyright policy and for an understanding of creative practice in a digital economy. If the assumption is that copyright is designed to serve the interests and facilitate the creativity of musicians, this view is not always shared by the intended beneficiaries.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	copyright,cultural labour,digitization,musicians,piracy,sampling
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Cultural Politics, Communications & Media Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Policy & Politics Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Centres > Centre for Competition Policy Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	09 Feb 2015 10:50
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2023 01:47
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/51475
DOI:	10.1177/0163443714567018

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