Copyright: The Elephant in the Middle of the Glee Club

[The Straight Story]

Copyright: The Elephant in the Middle of the Glee Club


This Tuesday, millions of eyes will be glued to the season finale of Glee — a popular musical comedy airing on Fox. Excitement is building among the show’s viewership, but my own enthusiasm for Glee has recently given way to confusion over its message.

The fictional high school chorus at the center of the show has a huge problem, you see — nearly a million dollars in potential legal liability. For a show that regularly tackles thorny issues like teen pregnancy and alcohol abuse, it’s surprising that a million dollars worth of lawbreaking would go unmentioned. But it does, and week after week, those zany Glee kids rack up the potential to pay higher and higher fines.

In one recent episode, the AV Club helps cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester film a near-exact copy of Madonna’s Vogue music video (the real-life fine for copying Madonna’s original? up to $150,000). Just a few episodes later, a video of Sue dancing to Olivia Newton-John’s 1981 hit Physical is posted online (damages for recording the entirety of Physical on Sue’s camcorder: up to $300,000). And let’s not forget the glee club’s many mash-ups — songs created by mixing together two other musical pieces. Each mash-up is a “preparation of a derivative work” of the original two songs’ compositions – an action for which there is no compulsory license available, meaning (in plain English) that if the Glee kids were a real group of teenagers, they could not feasibly ask for — or hope to get — the copyright permissions they would need to make their songs, and their actions, legal under copyright law. Punishment for making each mash-up? Up to another $150,000 — times two.

The absence of any mention of copyright law in Glee illustrates a painful tension in American culture. While copyright holders assert that copyright violators are “stealing” their “property,” people everywhere are remixing and recreating artistic works for the very same reasons the Glee kids do — to learn about themselves, to become better musicians, to build relationships with friends, and to pay homage to the artists who came before them. Glee’s protagonists — and the writers who created them — see so little wrong with this behavior that the word ‘copyright’ is never even uttered.

http://yaleisp.org/2010/06/copyright-and-glee/

[Ozymanithrax]

1. Because Glee is a work of fiction, and a course in copyright law has no place in it...

Their business model is to make these songs and then sell them instantly for downloading. They are making a killing. On the show, what happens must fit within the story. I mean, really, on the final show a girl gave birth to her baby in the five minutes that a rival glee club danced and sang. I mean, if they can violate biology on a basic level, what is a little bit of copyright law.

Glee is every bit as realistic as the Pirates of Penzance and the music is infinatly better.

I am a fan.

[GReedDiamond]

2. "Their business model is to make these songs and then sell them instantly for downloading."

I assume you are talking about original compositions and performances contained in the "Glee" show, not the "Glee" cast doing cover tunes of previously copyrighted and published material. I have never even heard of the show before, so I know nothing about it.

If they are performing other songwriters' material, the producers presumably pay licensing fees to the publishing companies with which the songs are registered. If they are not paying those licensing fees, there is something wrong with that.

Copyright would become an issue if a song is claimed to be an original composition, when, in fact, it was lifted from somebody else (notorious example: George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" was found to contain plagiarized material from the song "He's So Fine," by The Chiffons - written by Ronald Mack).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/He%27s_So_Fine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Sweet_Lord

[Ozymanithrax]

3. I am talking about the production company making the show...

Those songs are all sold for download, avaialable the night of the show. It is pretty cool. The people doing the work are the lawyers behind the show who are, apparantly, getting all the permissions, just as any group that sings the songs someone else recorded. Happens all the time, and the orignial artist gets compensated. All the legal work in the real world gets handled by real lawyers.

What you see on the TV is a work of ficiton not real life.

[GReedDiamond]

4. I know nothing about the show "Glee"...

...however, any credits for copyright and publishing for works used in the show would be credited as such, in the CREDITS.

What you see on the TV is a work of ficiton not real life.

I know, I make a living helping to create, sometimes, these works of fiction I think you are referring to.

Plus, since I myself have appeared on TV, that makes me a "work of fiction" - not really real life!

[Ozymanithrax]

6. If you are an actor, your characters/roles are works of fiction. n/t

Since I can not converse even on the internet with imaginary people, who ever made the post is real on at least a physical level.

[Rabrrrrrr]

5. If the producers weren't getting permission, it would have ended after the first episode.

If the writer of that article is bitching that the writers never bother to write into the script any dialogue about "Hey, did you guys remember to get copyright permission to make this video?", then I disagree - shows that bog down into that much technical detail would be boring.

Let's suspend some disbelief for the sake of a more even and focused flow of storyline.

[donco6]

7. The whole show is a campy farce, and he's worried it's not realistic enough?

Brother.