To promote musical expression >>> disaggregate interests of creators and distributors

"Promoting Diverse Cultural Expression: Lessons from the U.S. Copyright Wars"
by Raymond Shih Ray Ku
September 2007
Asian Journal of WTO & International Health Law and Policy

This article offers discusses the Convention of the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expression (CCD) that was adopted by the UN in 2007. According to the author, "[d]epending upon the funding mechanism chosen for creation , legal protection for distributors may undermine the goals of the CCD leading to fewer works being created, disseminated, and made accesible to the public." (pg. 1) The argument put forward in this article is that, using the US as a case study, musical creativity and cultural expression are being held back by the current copyright system because under the current regime creators and distributors interests are protected in conjunction with one and other. The interests of both parties are not protected efficiently or effectively when protected in an aggregate fashion because digital technology and the internet have established overwhelming circumstances in which both parties may have opposing interests at stake.

Interesting excerpt to wet the palate...

"...[W]hom does copyright law protect? For most of copyright's history, the interests of creators and distributors were considered one and the same, and for the most part, were largely aligned with those of the public or audience. However, new technologies, especially digital techonology have always challenged a legal regime created in response to a specific techonology and means of distribution -- the printing press. Once unbundled, the assumption that the exclusive rights created by copyright serve the interest of creators, distributors, and the public becomes less clear. Many of the copyright controversies making headlines today, from the litigation and threats of litigation against Grokster, Google's Book Project, MySpace, and YouTube, among others, involve copyright owners attempting to use copyright to prevent the emergence of new distribution models and uses of their works. In other words, the middlemen of old are using copyright to preserve their status in a world in which many of these middlemen are not only unnecessary but also stifle an environment for creating, producing, and disseminating diverse cultural expression." (pg. 2)