Banksy On Copyrighted Advertising Material

The week two readings on Copyright and Creative Commons have got me thinking.

First of all, I must tell my little sister who spends a lot of time blogging about fashion, to be careful. I’m sure she has no idea about Copyright laws, or where to find material that can be used freely.

Secondly, the discussion on Copyright makes me think of something Banksy wrote on Copyright in the Context of Advertising.

I think Banksy’s view on Copyrighted material is a valid one. What it comes down to is keeping money in certain people’s pockets, money that comes from us, the subjects whose public space is saturated with this material. So, why can’t we have a slice?

Adrian’s example from last week, the case of Michelle Phan shows how Copyright laws protect the wealth of big conglomerates. It’s interesting to note in this case that the creative artist (Kaskade) was happy about Michelle’s sharing of his music, because he’d gained a healthier following. However, it was the record company (Ultra Records) suing Michelle for using material that is legally owned by them. I wonder if they’d have bothered suing Michelle had she not made money out her of blog? Probably not, as there’d be nothing in it for them.

To expand on this a little further, what about when Copyrighted material is used to create something new? Why shouldn’t we be able to use other people’s material to create new things, new ideas and new cultures? Is anything really original anyway? What is original? Is there such a thing?

In my opinion creativity is for sharing, but it seems money and greed are the biggest thwarter of creativity.