Introduction

So for my upper level writing requirement (that we all happily have to do here at Barry) I am writing a paper on race and copyright law in the music industry, it’s called, “The Theft of Black Music: A Look into a Cultural Dynamic, Built or Destroyed by Our Nation’s Copyright Laws.” Though I am new to the subject, overall I believe most copyright laws to be legitimate and good for the industries that it involves – it makes sense to use these laws so as to make sure the Intellectual Property arena does not become a [for lack of a better term] free-for-all. However, I do realize that these laws are not full-proof, there are some things, and people for that matter, that fall between the cracks. That statement encompasses an entire group, generation and genre of music – this being most “black” music prior to the 1970’s.

I am going to explore the possible reasons of why black artists were not given credit for their works. Numerous possibilities, from unequal bargaining power in society as a whole, all the way to the clash between the very structural and concrete nature of copyright law and essentially the “oral” backbone of black artistic works in African American culture, can be considered to blame for this phenomenon. But most importantly, I am going to research if these actions still occur in our current Entertainment sector of law. All of this turns on the fact of there being constant controversy in Entertainment Law – which is more important, the creative work or the laws it must abide by?

Kim Harchuck