The Age of Stream: Conference Report | Dr Nick Scharf

So back in July, I organised a thing… My workshop about copyright and music streaming, cleverly titled: ‘The Age of Stream: Exploring the Production and Dissemination of Music in the Streaming-Based Landscape.’

Firstly, apologies dear reader for the length of time it has taken me to blog about it. There are two very good reasons for this; firstly, I had to go (back) to Germany shortly afterwards and secondly, I needed a (long) holiday.

What now feels like a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I put together a proposal for a small research grant from the Eastern ARC to organise it. The initial joy at being awarded the grant soon gave way to blind panic that it now had to be organised… But the plan was set. The workshop would be divided into two parts; the first looking at copyright’s legal framework, especially what it does and does not allow creators to do, and the second; looking at the broader online market for disseminating musical content. Plus people needed to be fed*

We had a stellar line-up: Dr. Hayleigh Bosher from Brunel, Dr. Gowri Nanayakkara from Canterbury, Dr. Alexandros Antoniou from Essex, Profs. John Street and Morten Hviid from UEA, er, me, and our keynote, Prof. Lionel Bently from Cambridge.

Prof. Street kicked the event off with a talk on artists’ perceptions of copyright which was based on a CREATe project he undertook along with UEA’s CCP. John is very much into his music and it was great to hear the thoughts of a political scientist on issues which although focussed on copyright, are not exclusively legal. It revealed a really interesting array of opinions on, for example, copyright infringements, revenue, and ethics. The study established that when it comes to these types of issues, there is not one clear opinion on them (regardless even of whether the musician was an amateur or professional), but that copyright is political and there is more than just a legal dimension to it.

Next up Dr. Bosher took us through ‘Copyright for Musicians’ based on some cool stuff she has been involved in, namely the copyrightuser.org website. Covering the main principles of copyright law, Hayleigh also addressed some of the key questions that she has been asked by creators about different types of musical use(s), borrowing, and where the line is drawn been inspiration and infringement. She also regaled us with interesting trivia, especially the amount of money an artist theoretically earn from a CD album sale (yes people – i.e. me – still by CDs). Hint: not much**.

Then it was my turn. Keeping the theme, I spoke about Creative Commons licencing and whether or not it makes sense for musicians to use it. Basically, the thing that has always troubled me about it is the question: what is the point? I’ll not blather on about it, because you can read my thoughts here. So as much it might not do much to alleviate the problems creators face when it comes to copyright, it does have an important political/symbolic element.

After the break, Prof. Hviid moved things on to looking at the industry structure and the role of online platforms and intermediaries. Also based on a CREATe-funded project, he focussed on the disruption digitisation has caused and who, if anyone may benefit from this. Although a Competition Law academic, Morten’s background is in economics and he provided another interesting perspective on the themes of the day, discussing the aligned stakeholder interests in light of this disruption.

Dr. Nanayakkara followed, talking about one specific intermediary Morten had mentioned – collective management organisations and specifically in relation to performers’ rights and remuneration. She explained what a complex area this is and the problems within the sector that the EU Proposal on Copyright in the Single Digital Market may rectify; specifically, empowering performers who did not previously have a right to remuneration under existing law when it comes to the digital communication of their work(s). As she explained though, there remains scepticism as to whether or not other proposals to improve issues such as transparency will be successful.

Dr. Antoniou concluded the last panel with some current developments regarding live blocking orders which are already in force when it comes to illegal live-streams of things like sporting events. Certainly this is an important issue in relation to use of mobile phones at music concerts being regarded as the ‘new applause’ and as Alexandros explained, these new types of blocking orders seem to be here to stay with strong judicial approval.

After a short break, it was my great pleasure to introduce our keynote speaker, Prof. Lionel Bently. Lionel co-wrote the IP textbook I used as an undergrad and this was actually the first opportunity I had to meet him (*starstruck*). Lionel spoke about one of my big interests and something which has been rumbling on at the European level for a while now – music sampling. He looked at several examples across the spectrum of this issue; sampling itself, unconscious copying and self-borrowing all in relation to the quotation exception under art.5(3)(d) of the InfoSoc Directive. Bringing in a wealth of literature and perspectives from the arts, it was a fascinating talk that was both entertaining and thought-provoking.

And that my friends, brought the day to a close. Thank yous were said, some more food was eaten, a beer or two was drank and goodbyes were exchanged. I then went home and collapsed in a heap.

After decompressing/vowing to never to organise anything like this again and subsequently reflecting on the day, it turned out to be a really good event. The line-up gave valuable insight and differing perspectives on the issues inherent within the online distribution of music and hopefully this event will lead to bigger and better things. I’d do it all over again too.

Special thanks go to Sabine (for keeping me on the level throughout the whole process), our student helpers Kristiane, Marc and Scott (who will get awesome references from me) and especially Carly in SSF who took care of pretty much all of the logistics and details, and without who’s help this would have gone no-where near as well.

*Everyone was fed.
**About £3 from a £15 CD sale.