The Australian Centre for Democracy and Justice’s En Masse Campaign has three main aims. To Rethink Copyright in our digital age; to Reclaim culture by encouraging people to step outside the current intellectual property regime; and to provide the tools to Redo that culture.

All culture is derivative. In other words, culture doesn’t happen in a vacuum, it builds on the past. If it weren’t for Steamboat Willy, we would never have had Mickey Mouse. If the fairy tails of the Brothers Grimm were restricted by copyright, we would never have had all the wonderful Disney cartoons that we grew up with.

However, these days, those that have built empires on exploiting the work of others that exist in the public domain (like Disney) are trying to lock down the past so that we can’t build on it as they did. This also turns out to be a rather profitable business model.

But, to borrow a phrase, the times, they are a changing. Computers and the internet mean that there are new, more efficient ways of distributing culture. Copying and editing is now so simple which undermines the traditional methods of production and distribution. Ultimately it is far more efficient to download and album rather than buy a CD.
This is a threat to ‘The Cartel’ (Hollywood and the big record companies). Musicians can now distribute their own music at virtually no cost. If the record companies are no longer able to control how these cultural outputs are distributed, their funding model is compromised.

The Cartel has responded by lobbying heavily to broaden the definition of copyright (for example, the inclusion of software) and increase the penalties for copyright violations. Accompanying this has been a barrage of misinformation about the effects on struggling artists.

New technologies mean new business models need to be established. There needs to be greater flexibility in our understanding of copyright. By creating a ridged structure around intellectual property everything becomes locked down, controls become financially burdensome and the potential that new technologies enable is lost.

Rethink
The digital age has meant that the production, distribution, and consumption of culture has never been easier. We now consume culture on unprecedented levels creating unprecedented opportunities for both creators and consumers. Where once you might have owned 15 or 20 records, you now own gigabytes worth of music data, download from the Internet and all neatly stored on a portable MP3 player smaller than a matchbox.

We need to be rethinking copyright, not rigidly interpreting a 400-year-old concept of copyright in a way that means culture is locked down. We need to understand that copyright law must protect the rights of artists but in a way that won’t stifle the creativities of that artist and their peers.

Already, innovative musicians  are seeing this as an opportunity, not a threat and moving to alternative business models. They are giving their music away for free, or asking music consumers to pay what they feel their music is worth. There’s a greater reliance on live performances in order to make money and the free music being given away as simply an advertisement for a live show.

It is difficult to defend music piracy. However, its prevalence stems from a music industry that is reliant on an out dated model. Record companies have had it too good for too long, it is time to rethink culture and how we distribute and consume it.

Reclaim
We need to reclaim our culture. Copyright law means that any intellectual property is locked up, unable to be used by other artists for 70 years after the death of the creator. We need to change copyright law to better reflect future possibilities, rather than entrench older understandings of copyright.

Clearly, major reform of copyright laws aren’t around the corner, so as creators we need to start thinking about these issues and making sure our creations are locked down in the same way. You can forgo your rights, some rights reserved, not all rights reserved. Even if it is as simple as saying, “you don’t need to ask permission to reuse my work, just follow these guidelines.” Lawyers MUST be removed from this equation.

Many people are now choosing to license their work using a “Creative Commons” (CC) license which does just this. The most common CC license is a Non-Commercial, Attribution, Share-a-like license which means just that. You are agree to use this work as long as you follow the three conditions I have set out here.  All of a sudden the transfer of that work is made much easier.

Redo
This website's content is licensed in this way. Please feel free to share it with others, use the articles in your own publication and so on.

We like to think of this as “remixing” which is cool and just a little bit hip-hop. It’s about acknowledging that we do has come from somewhere and that we want you to be able to build on this the way we have built on others.

New technologies has meant a shift from cultural consumers to cultural creators.  Increasingly it is a two way, or multi-way exchange as remixes are remixed and we acknowledge that this constitutes a new body of work - not just a rehashing of something old.

We want people to empower themselves by creating their own YouTube Channel and showing the world their ideas. This process is further enriched when someone else comes along, sees the movie you’ve made about your local culture and can then reuses that in their own documentary about what is going on in a range of different cultures.

So get out there and get creating!