James Boyle: “A Song’s Tale: Mashups, Borrowing, and the Law”

Professor James Boyle lectures on the 199 year history of a song protesting the government’s inept response after Hurricane Katrina, tracing its sources back over 100 years through the work of, among others, Kanye West, Ray Charles, and Clara Ward. Each (I’m shocked, shocked) of these musicians borrowed from the music of others before them, yet they borrowed in different ways, under different legal rules, in a different musical culture. Their music was shaped, for better and worse, by those constraints. At the end of the 100 year journey, we can have a sense of how the music of the future may be shaped, and of what our musical culture will give up in the process.