Heald, Paul J., How Copyright Makes Books and Music Disappear
(and How Secondary Liability Rules Help Resurrect Old Songs)
(July 5, 2013). Illinois Program in Law, Behavior and Social
Science Paper. Available at SSRN:
http://ssrn.com/abstract=2290181
Abstract:
A random sample of new books for sale on Amazon.com shows more books for
sale from the 1880’s than the 1980’s. Why? This paper presents new
data on how copyright seems to make works disappear. First, a random
sample of 2300 new books for sale on Amazon.com is analyzed along with a
random sample of 2000 songs available on new DVD’s. Copyright status
correlates highly with absence from the Amazon shelf. Together with
publishing business models, copyright law seems to stifle distribution
and access. Second, the availability on YouTube of songs that reached
number one on the U.S., French, and Brazilian pop charts from 1930-60 is
analyzed in terms of the identity of the uploader, type of upload,
number of views, date of upload, and monetization status. An analysis
of the data demonstrates that the DMCA safe harbor system as applied to
YouTube helps maintain some level of access to old songs by allowing
those possessing copies (primarily infringers) to communicate relatively
costlessly with copyright owners to satisfy the market of potential
listeners.
Comment included in The Atlantic Monthly article
http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/07/the-hole-in-our-collective-memory-how-copyright-made-mid-century-books-vanish/278209/
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