Syllabus

The Future of Copyright and Entertainment

• Alternative compensation and consumption models (Terry Fisher/Noank, anystreet, imeem, hulu, tip jars, the MPAA deal, girl talk; Gray Tuesday/downhill battle)
• RIAA case against individual file sharers as a strategic move
• Comparative/int’l angles

Changing trends in Consumption & Creation of Music and other Performance Art

Presenters: Joe Fishman, Miriam Weiler (perhaps there is some possibility of collaboration with those working on the Tenenbaum suit?)

Alternatives to iTunes for Access to Copyrighted Works

We are beginning to see more and more choices for where and how to get copyrighted music. Gone are the days when it was either download illegally on programs such as Limewire or pay for them on iTunes. There have been attempts at creating new marketplaces from scratch such as at Aimee Street, which lowers the cost of discovering new music by setting price according to download popularity. Then there has been Grooveshark, which charges for downloads from its user-uploaded library but actually gives a cut to the original uploader. And then we find the advertisement-driven revenue model creeping in, such as at Imeem, the third-most popular social networking site on the Internet as of August (behind only facebook and MySpace).

It's clear that the days of CD browsing at Tower Records are behind us. And while iTunes has been the one primarily filling the vacuum, the proliferation of web-based alternatives is making things interesting. Are any of these models likely to succeed? Are our methods of music consumption likely to have an impact on our methods of music production? And just where does the recording industry fit in to all of it?

Maybe John Buckman, from Magnatune?

Not sure how to integrate Fan Culture & Vidding into a broader discussion of changing consumption patterns of music?

Old Laws/New Media

Shubham Mukherjee, Debbie Rosenbaum, and Matt Sanchez (as noted above, collaboration with the "Changing Trends..." group? Are these separate topics warranting their own respective days?

How has new media affected traditional communications and media industries and challenged traditional law? How do we deal with the fact that there is little legal infrastructure that takes into account today's new media environments? Do we apply old laws to new technologies, or do we create new regulations? How can we create sound policy that aligns with both traditional legal and moral aspirations while according with today's technological realities?

This topic will aim to explore these general questions through the specific example of Sony BMG v. Tenenbaum, a federal file-sharing case the three of us are working on with Professor Charles Nesson, co-founder of the Berkman Center.

Speaker Ideas: Google Telecom Lawyer Rick Whitt or Google Antitrust lawyer Dana Wagner.