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♥ The Copyheart: Why Copying Is An Act Of Love ♥

image from ninapaley.com Free culture activist Nina Paley has started to explore a rather interesting idea.

Rather than trying to educate everyone on the complexities of copyright law, she thinks we should provide creators with a content marker that makes their intentions more clear to their fans. To help artists in this respect, Paley has created The Copyheart. When stamped on an album (or any creative work really) it signifies to fans that "♡ Copying is an act of love. Please copy."

Whether all rights or some rights are reserved, fans aren't concerned. They aren't going to take the time to sort through what they can and can't do with culture. In her manifesto, she explains that people copy and share things that they love.

"The more a work is copied, the more valuable it becomes," Paley writes. "Value isn’t taken away by fans; it is added by them, every time they copy." By tagging their music with the Copyheart, it sends a message to fans. It lets them know that an artist WANTS them to copy and share their music – no restrictions.

How exactly does an artist anoint their work with the ♡Copyheart?

Paley reasons that if a copyright looks something like this: "© Copyright 2010 by Author/Artist. All Rights Reserved." Then the Copyheart could be expressed in a form like this: "♡2010 by Author/Artist. Copying is an act of love. Please copy."

This is a very neat idea. For artists that are happy to let their fans copy and distribute their music, the Copyheart could be a fun way to empower their fans.

Would you ever consider attaching the ♡Copyheart to your music?

(via TechDirt, Copyheart)

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11 Comments

  1. Nice idea. I’m running an independente label in Brazil and willing to use this kind of heart licence in our next releases If both artists and label agrre to let thier fans copy and distribuite their music.
    When both have the proper rights, why not letting them spread the world about it? It’s polite, clever and most important, will make listeners and fans confortable when sharing or copying content!
    best
    Paulo

  2. Nope. I’ve succumbed to the fact that people are gonna copy my work (and do so as “fans”…fans who can’t support me monetarily? When I’m a fan of whatever their enterprise is, I’m likely having to buy something). Whatever the case…Long story short, I’d rather not encourage it.
    Although this does bring up a hilarious image to me…the picture of some gangsta rapper or hardcore rock band w/ that joint. Track 10 “eff these hoes” right next to a copyheart.

  3. It’s a terrible idea.
    This does a disservice to artists who want to make a living off their music by implying charging for their music is against love.
    Supporting artists so they can make a living is an act of love. Promoting an artist can easily be done without distributing their music in a manner that results in less income for them.

  4. As an emerging singer-songwriter who hopes to make an income from my music sales, but who also wants to share my music and its message freely with as many ppl as possible, that’s a tough question to answer.
    However, with today’s technology, illegal music sharing is rampant, and even the most conscientous, law abiding music lovers will obtain music illegally. The resulting law suits have been outrageous!
    Perhaps this solution is a bit too simple. Or, maybe it’s just that there’s not enough info here to make a truly informed decision.

  5. Stuff goes viral all the time, even without such a mark. If something is online and there is a link, people already can pretty much freely share it, so I’m not sure making copies is even needed. Just send people to the place where the creator has posted it rather than copying it. That way the creator has a chance to directly connect with whomever you want to share with.

  6. I would be interested to know if Nina’s cartoon Fetch made any money for her, and how. And if it would have still made money for her if she had made it clear that anyone could use it anyhow for anything, any time.
    Accessing thousands of dollars of corporate American philanthropy is not necessarily an option for many musicians for them to make a living out of their art.
    More like, every dollar from every download counts. As Suzanne states, it happens without encouragement. Why, unless you have a separate, private funding option, would you want to give away your work?
    She has this arse-about-elbow; when there is a basic minimum standard of living, when the world is generally more equal, then it would be lovely to share.
    Until then, perhaps Nina can find a plumber’s website and encourage them to work for nought, (‘heart plumbing’) or maybe office cleaners, or journalists, or teachers, or maybe there is a secret formula that cartoonists have come up with whereby they can spend six months piecing together a short film, give it away and still eat.
    Honestly.
    After a quick look on youtube I didn’t notice any of her vid’s with a ‘copyheart’. Perhaps start there, Nina.

  7. So you hand out CDs with the copyheart?
    why would a band bother with CDs today. Merchant tables should have things like shirts with a special code on the tag to download the album for free when the fan gets home. CDs are cumbersome and old fashioned

  8. The copyright or copyheart doesn’t change anything. Some fans show love by giving copies to friends who haven’t heard your material yet. Some fans buy music for friends. Showing love has options

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