I think that if you manipulate an existing song enough, you should be able to claim it as your own. And that's because I heard that you can use any song you want and you won't be charged for copyright as long as it's NOT more than 20 seconds long. But I also think you should be able to create music using other artist's music as long as you have permission from them.
Myspace and music blogs haven't changed my chances of being a successful musician because I never wanted to become a famous singer, and plus I can't sing what so ever. But if I was a good singer, then it would effect my life greatly. My talent would be on the Internet for the whole world to see and it would get me that much closer to my goal of being known by everyone.
I don't think the penalties for copyright are fair at all and they make absolutely no sense. If you get caught, then you should pay them what the song would cost, not over $50.000 a song or whatever they would charge. The penalties were not originally meant for the average citizen. It was meant for all the famous people who think they can take someones song and use it as there own whether they change it up or not. I'm not sure what would be a fair copyright infringement law. Maybe charge the downloader twice as much as the song would cost, and they would have to promote for the artist every way they can to get them more fans. Ex Facebook, twitter, post flyer around town, etc...
My thoughts on the film RIP! were positive, I think it was a good subject to make a documentary on. They explained how copyright works and that even the documentary would be considered copyright. I like how Brett Gaylor followed Girl Talk around, went to their concerts and interviewed them about their music and how they felt about the copyright lawsuit that could be thrust upon them. The arguments they made we're fairly sufficient. It's not like they're taking a whole song, selling it and saying that it's their own music. There should be limits to how copyright would be considered illegal in the world of media. Yes, I enjoyed it very much, but the best part was the at the end during the credits, he put in the remix video of The Colbert Report saying he didn't want that interview to me remixed. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvvhDngERXo
