[Frameworks] UBU - Not Pirates. A response to the UBU thread

Sat Oct 16 08:31:05 CDT 2010

Just a comment about the notion of piracy and the artist, just putting my head above the parapet for a moment...

Pirates steal other peoples things

If I watch/listen to your work I am not stealing

If I copy your work I have not stolen it. If I steal your watch you no longer have that watch. But - if I make a copy of that that watch you still have your watch and I only have a copy, not your watch. Then there are two watches.

Piracy is a redundant and erroneous term when applied to online content like music or film or, for that matter, any other creative content that is accessed digitally.

Piracy, Intellectual Property and Copyright are terms that were devised to suit the existing business models for the music and film industry, and ratified with the help of the various worldwide legal systems that enshrine the right to profit (not on behalf of the creator but on behalf of the business). They do not now, nor have they ever favoured the artists who create the content that is then sold and sold again to the consumer, who pays not  the artist but the record company, film studio, gallerist or collector. The art world has yet to come to terms with the new technologies and remains unchanged and unclear about how we deal with issues like paying artist for digital content, or for that matter royalties on the resale of unique artworks. The debate here throws this into sharp relief. Personally, I CC everything I make nowadays - it means I give permission for someone
 else to use the work, even change and modify it so long as they credit me. I do not
 ask for a fee, nor would I ever expect one unless the work was used, as a
 work in itself, to make money. And of course, there are different levels of CC to suit 
individual needs/requirements (see the previously mentioned Larry Lessig's project at http://creativecommons.org/)

Intellectual property is an oxymoron. I do not own ideas. Not even my own. 

But pretending someone else's work is your own is fraud or plaigiarism. This is what we should guard against as artists/creators, surely?

Artists always transpose - it's part of how we make new work. It's part of the craft, the way we learn how to make work - by copying. Then changing and evolving, and so on. How we determine how much each sample is worth, and how artists get paid for their work is the big issue. Not to mention determining where and when something needs remuneration. 

I think that Ubuweb is/was a wonderful thing, a great resource that used the Internet in it's best aspect. I think the uploading of other peoples videos without permission is a bit rude and they should have maybe made it so an artist could take down their work. But, me I'd be happy to be popped up there, as some other posters have pointed out. There will always be someone who thieves, who takes another's credit, even in the artworld (especially...?) but that wasn't what Ubu was doing. There will also be many who are happy to share, so I am happy to weigh the risk of 'theft' against sharing. Sharing, in every sense, enriches us. IMHO...

The answer for fair remuneration for artists, musicians, filmmakers et al for digital works will probably lie in a blanket license fee. Databases are key to the fair distribution of revenue. New international legislation is needed to ensure that artists get a fair share and that all the revenue does not all end up in company/studio/gallerist coffers. The music biz is in full flow with that debate right now, the lawmakers are gearing up... We should pay attention and join this debate otherwise we could find ourselves subject to legislation that is restrictive and determined only by monetary concerns.

Loved reading all the debate on this from other frameworkers - many thanks to everyone! I just wanted to say that we need to beware of using terms like piracy in this context.

Nice weekend all :)

AP

To: frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 20:26:19 -0400
From: esorp at aol.com
Subject: Re: [Frameworks] UbuWeb...HACKED!

Well- at the risk of entering the fray without having read any of the earlier missives I must come to Ubu's defense.  Having been rejected by every major video art distributor in the U.S, having at last let go of the apparently frivolous desire to make any money off of my work, having concluded that the web offered at least some method of broadcasting the work to a larger audience, and having appreciated the opportunities afforded by Ubu to showcase important work to my students, I happily flung 13 titles up onto Ubu and never regretted it.  I realize there are copyright and permission issues of substantial importance that have arisen in this context, but I'm not one to be counted amongst those who celebrate their demise.

Peter Rose

-----Original Message-----

From: Beverly O'Neill <bevon1 at earthlink.net>

To: Experimental Film Discussion List <frameworks at jonasmekasfilms.com>

Sent: Wed, Oct 13, 2010 4:29 pm

Subject: Re: [Frameworks] UbuWeb...HACKED!

Ah, this is such good news.  I will refrain from posting a screed about that site.  A Google search offers a number of condolences to Ken Goldsmith, UBU's founder.  One writer wondered if the anniversary of John Lennon's death and the simultaneous hacking of UBU had anything in common. 

So thrilled!

Beverly O'Neill 

On Oct 11, 2010, at 8:01 PM, Shane Christian Eason wrote:

So...yeah...um...apparently UBU is offline! Hacked! 

Considering what has been discussed in the past regarding this website, 

does anyone want to comment on this? Additional information? Very odd, 

considering I was on the site this past weekend. Although, my iPhone App 

for WFMU UbuWeb Radio continues to work. 

Curious,

Shane

_________________________________________ 

Shane Christian Eason, BFA; MFA

School of Communication and Multimedia Studies

Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts & Letters

Florida Atlantic University 

O: (954) 762 5246

F: (954) 762 5122

E1: eason at fau.edu

E2: shaneeason at yahoo.ca

Blog: shaneeason.blogspot.com

Web: shanechristianeason.com

Miami | Fort Lauderdale | Palm Beach

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