When Mozart began his famous “Requiem,” unfinished at his death in 1791 and completed from his notes by a student, the composition was commissioned anonymously. It was later revealed to have come from a wealthy nobleman, Count Franz von Walsegg, who fancied himself a composer.
The count was in the habit of commissioning works from other composers, with the stipulations that only one copy of the score was made. He would then put his own name on it. Copyrights didn’t, of course, exist in Mozart’s day. They’ve evolved over the last few centuries to protect writers, composers, dramatists, and artists.
Their works are protected by law for a certain period of time, after which they pass into the “public domain.” That doesn’t mean their use is free, because there are “layers” of copyrights – for performances, for broadcast. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, in using a segment of Mozart’s work for their In Memoriam portion of the broadcast, would have had to secure rights from whoever owned the rights to that particular performance.
Years ago, at a Massachusetts All State concert, I came into the hall to see a lady who had set up her video camera in an aisle next to her seat. I went over to tell her she’d have to take it down. She replied angrily that she “had every right to record her child.”
Actually, no she didn’t, because her child was performing with others collectively, and recording the performance violated not only the law, but also the regulations of Symphony Hall and the MA Music Educators Association. I informed her that, if she didn’t put the camera away, the Symphony Hall ushers do it more forcefully, perhaps even asking her to leave.
“Intellectual property” is the broad definition by which original material is created by a person or persons in collaboration, like Rodgers and Hammerstein. They control their work, and their earnings are dependent on that control.
Those writing television commercials have their work protected for a long time. It was just recently that the song, “Happy Birthday” passed into the public domain as a result of a lawsuit ruling in 2015. The tune originated in 1893.
Expanded use of copyrighted material have required expanded legal protections for either the creators or to those to whom the rights have been transferred. Authors to their publishers, for example. Many noted musicians, like Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson, bought up the rights to large libraries of musical works, and in turn, they received royalties for the works’ performances.
Artificial Intelligence doesn’t actually train itself. Its content is taken, often without the owners’ consent, where it is used, manipulated, and organized by topic.
My daughter was telling us recently that she’s found a number of instances where articles she’s written for scholarly journals have been pirated and fed into AI platforms, which is frustrating when her own writing shows up in student answers on exams, or their answers have been taken from other AI sources in lieu of students’ own interpretations, analysis, or demonstrated understanding.
There is no way to verify the accuracy of most AI material used. This is an updated version of what we called “plagiarism.” Actually, it still is. Stealing and using other peoples’ work without attribution. Its expanding, as the capabilities for artificial intelligence multiply.
Somebody, in fact lots of people, will be making lots of money. Sadly, though, it won’t be those who actually conceived of the content. It will be those working feverishly with new technologies to replicate, duplicate, or outright steal words, sounds, and images without fear of any sort of retribution, because, once again, the laws of intellectual property haven’t yet caught up with the advancements in technology.
Our current government is heavily invested in those technologies, and therefore shows great reluctance to regulate them.
Tom Walters is a retired music teacher and school arts administrator. He lives in Londonderry and has a blog: imthinkingno.com. Reach him at tomwalters729@gmail.com.