Britney Spears and Steven Tyler did it again . When I say they did it again, I mean they collaborated with each other on a special project. The previous time they worked together was in 2001 for the Super Bowl halftime show, and the song they performed was “Walk This Way” .
This time, Spears, Tyler, and many other musicians are working together to fight against the Department of Commerce’s Copyright law. This Copyright law controls over whether or not musicians can remix or do mash up collaborations with other musicians songs. The other celebrities supporting Spears and Tyler is Ozzy Osborne, Sting, and Dr. Dre.
If you don’t know Ozzy Osborne, he is the eccentric lead vocalist for his famous band called Black Sabbath in the 1970s and is considered one of the most pioneering bands ever. Sting is singer, songwriter, activist, and philanthropist. Last but not least, Dr. Dre is a famous American record producer, rapper, and entrepreneur, and is currently the head of the popular product Dr. Dre’s Beats. So if all these legendary musicians have a problem with one law, then something is definitely wrong here.
Its surprising how these issues are rising up now considering we have tons of DJs and Internet sites such as YouTube making mash up of songs and music videos. However, there is fee for doing this and that’s because the Patent Office’s July 2013 Copyright went over creating a compulsory license that allows anyone to use a song to remix or sample for a fee.
With the help of the music industry lawyer Dina Lapolt, Tyler decided to lead the effort against this law.
Lapolt stated: ‘”Approval is by far the most important right that an artist possesses,” LaPolt wrote. “If an artist does not want his or her music used in a certain way, no amount of money will change his or her mind.”
Resolving this issue could save musicians the worry of their music being combined with political messages or any political agendas. The scary thing is that this has already actually happened. Joe Walsh is an American musician from a band called The Eagles, and he sent a letter about being against the compulsory license because of a Illinois Republican representative, using lyrics from his song ” Lead The Way” during the Illinois congressman 2010 campaign.
This issue that is brought to the Department of Commerce by Britney Spears and other musicians isn’t the only issue the Department of Commerce has been having. Other problems include: updating the licensing structure for terrestrial radio and reviewing the first-sale doctrine that allows consumers to resell products.