Filking History & Orphans
Jan. 20th, 2013 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morgandawnFor those of you just joining us, filking is a long standing science fiction/fantasy activity where fans write their own sci-fi/fantasy themed lyrics and set them to either popular music or original music. Media fandom filking (TV/movies) is part of this larger filking community.
As far as I know there have been few large scale efforts to (a) document the history of the filking community (along the lines of Fanlore) and (b) even more importantly, to preserve the decaying and obsolete audio cassette tapes. Many have looked at the legal and technical hurdles and given up or have been driven underground. Edited to add: But oh brave filkers, if only someone would partner with a university like UCLA, your filk recordings might yet be saved.
On the subject of preserving decaying material and obsolete formats, libraries and universities have the right under the Preservation exception to the US Copyright code to digitize "at risk" materials. There are many requirements they have to meet, one of them that they must physically own the artifact (tape, book) etc before digitizing. Given how few filk cassettes were produced, acquiring a copy of the tape may be impossible, even while an audio backup may exist.
The other aspect of the digitizing efforts is what to do with 'orphan works' - works where neither the creator, publisher nor their heirs can be found. Currently there is no orphan works exception to the US copyright code, but recent court decisions and ongoing digitization projects have indicated that mass digitization by universities and libraries can, under certain circumstances fall under the existing "fair use" exception. Even more interesting is that the Library Congress is once again soliciting commentary on how to craft an orphan works exceptions to the US Copyright code. (They tried to have a discussion in 2008, but they did not get far given the anti-fair use sentiment that existed back then).
Which leads me to this blog article. You can read the full piece here:
"On Monday, January 14, 2013, the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) (whose members are the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries and Association of College and Research Libraries) filed comments (pdf) with the U.S. Copyright Office in response to their October 22, 2012, Notice of Inquiry about the current state of play with orphan works and mass digitization....In its comments, LCA explains that “significant changes in the copyright landscape over the past seven years convince us that libraries no longer need legislative reform in order to make appropriate uses of orphan works.” Specifically, two key developments make it possible for libraries to engage in mass digitization and other projects that involve orphan works:
Translation: we've been doing it for years and the courts are supporting us, so we'll take our chances with the lawyers and not the Congressional Crazies.
As far as I know there have been few large scale efforts to (a) document the history of the filking community (along the lines of Fanlore) and (b) even more importantly, to preserve the decaying and obsolete audio cassette tapes. Many have looked at the legal and technical hurdles and given up or have been driven underground. Edited to add: But oh brave filkers, if only someone would partner with a university like UCLA, your filk recordings might yet be saved.
On the subject of preserving decaying material and obsolete formats, libraries and universities have the right under the Preservation exception to the US Copyright code to digitize "at risk" materials. There are many requirements they have to meet, one of them that they must physically own the artifact (tape, book) etc before digitizing. Given how few filk cassettes were produced, acquiring a copy of the tape may be impossible, even while an audio backup may exist.
The other aspect of the digitizing efforts is what to do with 'orphan works' - works where neither the creator, publisher nor their heirs can be found. Currently there is no orphan works exception to the US copyright code, but recent court decisions and ongoing digitization projects have indicated that mass digitization by universities and libraries can, under certain circumstances fall under the existing "fair use" exception. Even more interesting is that the Library Congress is once again soliciting commentary on how to craft an orphan works exceptions to the US Copyright code. (They tried to have a discussion in 2008, but they did not get far given the anti-fair use sentiment that existed back then).
Which leads me to this blog article. You can read the full piece here:
"On Monday, January 14, 2013, the Library Copyright Alliance (LCA) (whose members are the American Library Association, Association of Research Libraries and Association of College and Research Libraries) filed comments (pdf) with the U.S. Copyright Office in response to their October 22, 2012, Notice of Inquiry about the current state of play with orphan works and mass digitization....In its comments, LCA explains that “significant changes in the copyright landscape over the past seven years convince us that libraries no longer need legislative reform in order to make appropriate uses of orphan works.” Specifically, two key developments make it possible for libraries to engage in mass digitization and other projects that involve orphan works:
- Court decisions have further solidified libraries’ rights under fair use; and
- Libraries have successfully engaged in a range of projects involving orphan works and mass digitization.
Translation: we've been doing it for years and the courts are supporting us, so we'll take our chances with the lawyers and not the Congressional Crazies.
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Date: 2013-01-20 11:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
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