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The_Public_Enemy (1931); Cine_101; Alison_Nadle

In the early 1930s, the gangster film enjoyed center stage in Hollywood. The fame of the genre reflected a real-life spike in crime, as America was in the midst of the Great Depression. A broken economy and collapsed financial system pushed market exchanges underground, engendering a thriving mob and gang culture. Many gangster films, replete with theatrical scenes of violence, dramatized America's latest criminal fad. However, other films attempted to analyze the gangster from a psychological or sociological standpoint, offering explanations and solutions. The Public Enemy falls into the latter category, representing a shift in the depiction of the gangster. Prior to the release of The Public Enemy, a majority of crime films painted gangsters as inexplicable sources of immorality and vice. However, The Public Enemy offers a unique presentation of crime life, emphasizing the economic and social environment of gangsters, and controversially allowing the audience to both identify and empathize with America's most dangerous criminals.

Digital Sampling and Copyright

JSTOR: Popular MusicVol. 7, No. 3 (Oct., 1988), pp. 337-338

This academic journal is published by Cambridge University Press and is a commentary on the first source listed above. Laing highlights the most important points of Frith’s work, offering his professional opinion in a disagreement, agreement, or clarification in the very least. A notable quality of this journal is the fact that is it printed in Great Britain; therefore it offers the insight of a foreigner analyzing American copyright law in contrast to that of the United Kingdom. This perspective draws attention to aspects of the law that may not been previously considered.

The essay is short and concise, wasting no words in a full examination of Frith’s work. He calls into question Frith’s assertion that the copyright system is an “aspect of the competition between different music producers…and…different music users,” and claims that there is much more to it than that. He acknowledges the complexities in the system in that they do not clearly favor or target neither the creator, nor the performer, nor the consumer. Slightly outdated, this essay was written before any sampling lawsuits were completed in the courts (at least in Great Britain) however, this serves as a strength instead of a weakness, however, seeing as his calculated predictions can be measured against the results to gauge how scholars viewed the subject.

This journal is not only an intellectual work in itself, but it is also an intelligent deciphering of some of Frith’s most significant assertions. This serves the reader well as some of his reading can be confusing and seem contradictory at parts. In reading Frith’s work, I will be sure to keep Laing’s journal on hand for color and clarification in order to most accurately comprehend the discussion and facts presented.

Music and copyright / edited by Simon Frith and Lee Marshall.

This book is an objective look at the various implications of digital sampling and copyright infringement in the music industry. It offers numerous examples of instances in the production of music that range from simply “causing a stir” to reaching a major court decision – and it provides the results of each. It has been written and edited by a collection of scholars, specializing in a number of fields and commenting from a variety of backgrounds and points of view.

The book does not necessarily pose an argument as much as it clarifies the dispute between the recording industry and the digital sampling community. It pits the copyright laws against the “creativity” of new musicians. The book takes neither stance but rather gives adequate attention to both. On one hand, it states that copyright is often blamed for curtailing creativity in music, in that it prevents the production of completely new songs simply because of their use of a small sample of a previous work. Conversely, the authors acknowledge that copyright is also seen as a catalyst for creativity, offering incentive to create fully original work instead of somehow deriving it from a pre-existing source.

This dichotomy is essential to my argument seeing as it offers equal views and examples on the subject of digital sampling. The cases identified in the text are sound evidence of the evolution of the copyright law as a result of the development of the digital sampling technologies and practices. As a result of these case studies, the book also calls to mind a number of musical examples that can not only be analyzed further, but can also be used to find other examples or to gain further insight into the specific case in question. All of these items are discussed in a case-by-case basis with commentary following and this formal structure provides an easy reference into any single instance of copyright infringement that results from the practice of digital sampling. This source will prove invaluable in the completion of the final paper, seeing as it outlines all of the surrounding facts and intricacies of copyright law as it pertains to music. In deciding whether or not a sampling is within the bound of copyright law, this book has been cited numerous times, and will be upon completion of the paper.

The Digital Songstream: Mastering ... - Google Book Search

This book is a guide – as its title might suggest – to all things digital when it comes to music. It serves as not so much an analysis on copyright in the music industry as a whole, but rather as a set of legal and technical guidelines so that one may participate in the consumption and production of such music without infringing on copyrights. In other words, it describes for the reader all of the ins-and-outs of the digital music industry so that one may know where in the law his practices may reside.

Hill’s book has entire chapters devoted to the assessment of what is legal, what is not, and how to go about participating in said sanctioned musical practices. He identifies a list of acceptable file-sharing websites, and offers his own commentary on why others are forbidden, as well as why these are acceptable. The book begins with a basic introduction into the technologies and methods used in the digital realm and then goes deeper to list available services and to comment on the merits of various practices. His advice is clear and he condones no illegal activity, yet he makes clear why certain people might be motivated to circumvent copyright laws in terms of digital music. He further lists specific file types and programs that are used in these practices and he identifies useful software. He finishes the book with another broad chapter about the “Conscience of Digital Music” as a whole as well as his prediction of the future of the industry.

Hill’s technological knowledge is a key aspect of this book that has allowed me to delve deeply into the details of digital music production and sharing. He explains these issues in simple terms, while still conveying the complexity of their implications. In writing this final paper, the technological terms and details from this book will provide much-needed expertise in a field that I am not necessarily well-versed in. In my analysis of the acceptability of digital sampling, I must first know how the practice works and what techniques are involved; this book offers me this knowledge, which is key to reaching a conclusion in my final paper on what sampling is acceptable within copyright law.

Sound unbound : sampling digital music and culture / edited by Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid.

Seemingly a sequel to his previous work, Sound Unbound is compiled with the help of numerous contributors and reads much more like a scholarly account than its predecessor. It delves further into the intricate aspects of Dj-ing and remixing: sampling, appropriation, plagiarism, and various forms of musical technology from tape loops to video opera. The list of contributors ranges from science fiction writers to media activists, from rappers to composers, and this wide range of expertise offers an even better insight into the intricacies of the music industry in the digital age that the first book provides.

Most important to the focus of this paper, however, remains to be the testimony and work of Paul Miller. Once again, his experience as a professional DJ offers an exclusive look into the life of someone who makes a living off of sampling and remixing, however the supporting chapters from his colleagues offer a much stronger foundation for his more up-to-date commentary on the industry. In addition, the work of novelist Jonathan Lethem on appropriation and plagiarism is a good complement to Miller’s chapters on sampling and civilization.

Contrary to the last book by Miller, Sound Unbound explores more deeply the legal implications of “stealing” another’s song or work, and the distance that one must go in order to gain such negative attention from the authorities or at least the original creators. Furthermore, the book includes a mix-CD compiled by Miller himself, made up of a variety of artists commonly classified as “avant-garde,” which only serves to enhance the written works that he includes in the book. It gives the reader something real and interactive – a way to experience what all of the scholars are talking about first-hand. It is the well-roundedness of this complete work and the many facets of the modern music industry that it covers from the inside-out that is the reason this is so helpful in the construction of my final paper.