A Necessary Discussion

Before this assignment I had never heard of Creative Commons or anything like it. I think the idea is really fascinating when looking at the kind of works created from multiple original sources such as songs or videos (Like "Party and Bullshit in the USA") I was under the impression that the only kind of copyright protection was full protection or none at all, never knowing that there was something in between. I feel as though the main argument for full copyright protection has to do with money. I imagine that if I asked a young artist just starting out how he or she would feel about giving permission to people to use their works to create something else, they would be interested but if I were to pose that same question to a well known artist who makes their living from their work, the answer may be different and more hesitant to let such works be shared for free. This is the predicament of the music industry today. In a time when so many artists are using small portions of older works in their own, this discussion is a necessary one. Being a Creative Nonfiction major here at Columbia, I come across various works featuring appropriation in my studies. The most recent would be Carla Harryman's book "Adorno's Noise." Although the book was hard to get into at first I really enjoyed it once I figured out a way to read it that would make it more easily understood. I see no problem with appropriation or sampling in music because when the dust of the arguments clears, and newly formed works are released they can be something new and interesting.