NASA Beams Song “Across The Universe” To Other Worlds…Intergalactic Royalties To Be Collected!
|
Print This Post
|
Email This Post
|
Sphere: Related ContentIf you didn’t hear, NASA is beaming the Beatles tune “Across the Universe” today to the North Star region of space…. You can learn more about this here:
http://www.acrosstheuniverseday.com/
Now, the joke is really on the would-be alien listeners, as they only have one chance to hear this “broadcast” as it speeds by them… If they miss it as it passes over their heads (maybe even multiple heads per alien), they will be out of interstellar luck as the duplicating and re-distributing of this message is prohibited by Earth’s, soon to be announced, Intergalactic Copyright Policy.
Rumor has it a new division of R.I.A.A., “Cosmic R.I.A.A.” or possibly, “R.I.A.A. in Space”, will be formed and their lawyers are already pounding out remuneration scenarios for the various unknown species of sentient life that might be found space-pirating away this precious sonic material… some of these scenarios are speculated to include, but not limited to, heavenly sums of something very valuable and future imprisonment on the yet to be established penal colony on Mars (You know you wondered what all those missions and rovers we’re REALLY up to!).
O.K. seriously… the song is 40 years old today and the truth is that by the time it get’s to where it’s going…it will have been in the public domain for nearly 4 centuries! So… copy, duplicate, and replicate away cosmic creatures of the deep unknown!
Note: If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed for the latest news and information. Not Sure What RSS is or how to Subscribe? Click Here!
February 5th, 2008 at 4:08 am
In a multi-media culture, how do you license works.
First read the wikipedia history of the song: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Across_The_Universe
Then watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H71Fv3PcQQY the Rufus Wainright version of the tune,
then see the Fiona Apple version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IKnpJpP9eM.
then the Henson/Muppets version from Labyrinth - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk-NqRsQlVk
then Laibach’s Hitler Youth version - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_q5mlb3Bjzs
So in terms of multimedia, Geffen, Apple, McCartney and Ono own the lyrics and the song, but what about the references to Magritte in the Wainright version? What about the references to “Clockwork Orange” in the Fiona Apple version? Bowie as Vampire? Reifenstahl’s photo-style in the Laibach version?
Seems to me that we are going to have to re-think a lot of things, because the pieces of the pie keep getting smaller and smaller. I cannot help but wonder how many copyright holders there are to the Wainright version (from the movie).
Or maybe we should just be thankful that there are enough revolutionary spirits out there to preserve these tidbits of culture so we can all see them on YouTube. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO4RfVeOyRQ
So, copyright law is the law of the land…today…but what about http://anon.nasa-global.edgesuite.net/anon.nasa-global/ccvideos/acrossuniverse.asx
Did the tax payer pay for that?
Just stirring things up, like Paul would have encouraged us to.
elderbob
February 5th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Robert,
Wow, you put a lot of time into that comment… very interesting. I wrote a post awhile back called “Go ahead sue me for humming…royalty free minds for everyone”… Copyright is a big issue today and the boundaries of yesterday are easily overun by the technologies of today. In my post I imagine a time when the biological imprints of our “minds” can be considered a replicaiton of copyrighted media… it’s pretty funny but, not too far fetched!
I’ve been studying copyright law for a few years now (as it pertains to musicians) and I’m continually stunned by what is happening in the courts and how it’s played out in the media. James Frankel has an amazing handle on copyright and his posts on copyright or copywrong are eye-opening. I’ve said it be for and I’ll say it again, I’m all for musicians making money on their works… but, I’m also for a slighlty more liberal and 21st century interpretation of “fair-use”. If I ever get my “95 theses” of that interpretation formulated and clarified in my mind… I’ll be sure to post them…nails and all.
So, I guess… In the end, the love we take is equal to the love we make… WAIT! is that line copyrighted?…nobody hum or sing that previous line! 
Thanks for your great comment.
-J. Pisano