Since its appearance in 15th and 16th century Europe, copyright law has remained a complicated subject and has very difficult to balance laws in a way that mutually benefits artists and audiences. The American government faced many challenges in adapting to the new eras, most notably creating numerous laws starting in the 1790s that increased the length of the copyright term so that artists had more control over their works. However, in the field of music, it is vital that copyright laws are updated and new ones created to stay in touch with the drastically changing music industry. Many believe that copyright policymakers support copyright holders to encourage creativity, but it is clear that legislators have always had greater regard for the public interest. The way copyright law operates today is outdated in the music space and does not reflect the constantly evolving techniques used for production in the music industry. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Modern music technology has grown rapidly and become more accessible to the general public, allowing more people to be creative and create new and innovative music. However, with the advent of such technology comes new processes and production methods, some of which are not governed by current copyright laws, such as sampling. For example, MC Hammer's "U Can't Touch This" and Vanilla Ice's "Ice, Ice, Baby" both relied heavily on one particular sample, Rick James' "Superfreak" and Queen and David's "Under Pressure" respectively Bowie. Both hits led to legal disputes: Hammer settled out of court with James and gave him co-songwriter credit and a share of the royalties, and Ice gave Queen and Bowie songwriting credits (Yglesias) . The outcomes of the cases were fair, however, the systematic consequences were much stronger than people expected. Sample licensing became mandatory by most major record labels after these two cases, preventing many artists who created sample "collages" from selling their music. For example, the year before MC Hammer took office, the Beastie Boys had released one of their most famous records, Paul's Boutique, which contained over 300 samples (Yglesias). If it had been released after the Hammer and Ice court cases, it would have been impossible for their record label to release it without being sued, because they wouldn't have bothered to try to get rid of the large amount of samples. The legality of sampling is a big topic right now, and it's unclear whether copyright policymakers intend to address it more clearly. Another major flaw in today's copyright law is the way court cases are decided by methods such as this leads some artists who are clearly copying people's sound to remain untouched by the law. For example, Caramanica stated regarding the infamous “Blurred Lines” case, “the jury was instructed to base its decision on the sheet music” (Caramanica). However, with the advent of digital audio workstations, or DAWs, in popular music production, the use of sheet music in music production has greatly declined. It's incredibly unfair for music to be analyzed with notation and sheet music if it wasn't created using any, and copyright law should adaptto new production techniques to stay in touch with new musical styles. An example of a couple of songs that further prove this point are “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea and Charli XCX and “Don’t Hurt Me” by DJ Mustard. Throughout his career, DJ Mustard has used a sharp and lively bass synthesizer that has become his signature sound and is the main element of the track "Don't Hurt Me" (Caramanica). The Invisible Men and Arcade, the two producers of “Fancy”, have undoubtedly clearly copied DJ Mustard's signature sound, and it's sad that we don't have the legal basis to take them to court and make an effective case. Not only did they copy the bass synth, but they used an 808-driven beat along with a "Hey!" sample over the verses' unusual beats, both of which are not exclusive to DJ Mustard, but are commonly used in his tracks. Lastly, the tempo is the same, the drum patterns are very similar, both tracks use female rappers, and both have a catchy vocal hook in the chorus provided by a featured artist. The only thing that differs between the instrumental of "Fancy" and any DJ Mustard beat is that the former does not include DJ Mustard's signature label, which he places at the beginning of all his tracks. For this reason it would be fair for him to receive co-production credits along with royalties. However, because copyright law has not adapted to modern music, it has little to offer for an artist like DJ Mustard, where the distinctive sound is not in the notes, but in the sound design and atmosphere. Proper copyright law should be modernized so that artists are able to defend their unique qualities as music producers, especially when it comes to sound design and rhythmic qualities. Finally, it is important that copyright law is changed so that artists who are being infringed have more control over what actions they want to take. Nowadays, it is generally up to the original artist's record label to decide what to do about the infringing artist, however, copyright laws should give more power to the original artist. For example, Danger Mouse's "Grey Album" was a tribute to both Jay-Z and the Beatles, who both loved the album and were incredibly impressed with the production. The album wasn't even meant to be released - Danger Mouse stated: "I just sent in some tracks and now people are selling it and people are downloading it everywhere... it wasn't my intention to break copyright laws" (Rimmer ) . The record was accidentally leaked and both Jay-Z and the Beatles had no intention of taking Danger Mouse to court. However, EMI, the owner of the Beatles' copyright, had other plans: they decided to sue Danger Mouse and order all retailers to stop distributing the record. Paul McCartney was categorically against EMI's decision and said: “I didn't care when something like that happened with The Gray Album. But the record company was worried about it. They made a fuss” (Rimmer). If all the original artists were against the copyright lawsuit, it is ridiculous that copyright law is set up in a way that gives them no power against the record label's decision, which should be changed. Original artists should have the opportunity to negotiate with their respective record labels whether a copyright lawsuit should be filed, whether other action should be taken, or whether the label should simply ignore the infringement for some particular reason. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Copyright law is a topic.