FYS 23 Copyright, Originality, and Theft in Popular Music
In this seminar we will explore recent debates about originality, authenticity, imitation, sampling, and appropriation, within the context of the American judicial system, copyright law, and the history of the American popular music industry. We begin with the earliest forms of American popular music in the 1800s and work up to the present, examining how copyright laws and music industry practices have changed to keep up with evolving technology. Assigned readings span a rich and interdisciplinary mix of scholarly research, newspaper articles, interviews with artists, blog posts, album reviews, legal proceedings, and (of course) music recordings themselves. The culmination of the course will be a research paper in which students examine the stakes and outcome of a recent act of musical larceny. Knowledge of music is not required. Open only to first-year frosh.