According to Lawrence Lessig, copyrights benefit artists by protecting them. The author of Remix: Helping Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy argues that, rather than allowing artists to build on past works, the war on piracy and copyright restrictions have made it impossible for artists to perform their original work. Because of the risk of being sued, copyrights have made it impossible for young artists and individuals to create amateur works and share them with friends, family members, and peers (Lessig, 4). Furthermore, corporate groups have incorrectly utilized the struggle to protect artists' privacy, which refers to the acquisition, storage, and broadcast of personal information, to harm amateur creations. There are two types of cultures about transfer the of artist work from one generation to another; Read-Only and Read-Write cultures. In RO culture, artwork is produced professionally, in a hierarchal manner and under strict control. The amateur only consumes the culture which is characterized by fewer performances. The recording is captured in tangible forms, duplicated and sold through a well-established industry. This culture resulted in an establishment of millions of jobs in America, brought superstars and defined the onset of popular culture (Lessig, 31). Read-Write (RW) culture, on the other hand, is made of consumers actively involved in the creation of cultural tokens. It is a blend of both professional and amateur artists. Citizens do not just consume the culture by reading and listening, but by adding to the culture through the re-creation of the culture they receive. They achieve this by using the same tools used by professionals, such piano, violins, video editing software and mandolins (Lessig, 28). This culture is flat, given that is shared from one person to the other.
Works Cited
Lessig, Lawrence. Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. Penguin, 2008.
