Week 11: Copyright

In the film "Sonic Outlaws" which we watched last Monday the core issue was on the debate of copyright laws. The film featured a band called Negativland who "sampled" music from the popular rock band U2 and were sued for violation of copyright mainly due to the nature of their album cover. The album cover featured the letter U and the numeral 2 in big letters and the band's name Negativland in small letters below. The argument was that consumers would purchase the album thinking that it was a U2 album when it was in actuality a Negativland album. Negitavland is a band that implement the use of prerecorded sounds and putting them together to created unique and interesting sounds or music. However, the band comes off as a sly group who lie and stir up controversy (mainly using humor) to get known. The three main styles of their work are, sound collages, musical expositions, and of course humor. I found the film to be interesting in most parts and even though the film is on the opposing side of copyright, sometimes it made me think that the copyright laws are needed to some extent. I guess it is just in the eye of the beholder.