“Originality doesn't mean creation from nothingness.....it can also mean reusing something in a very creative and innovative way... if we took the standards of how people create that are implicit in a lot of copyright law cases, that basically say 'you can't copy', most of what we consider to be great classical works couldn't have been created...”
In this episode, Adriene Lilly talks to Olufunmilayo Arewa, Professor of Law at University of California Urwin about her work on musical borrowing and copyright law in the United States.

Olufunmilayo, who goes by Funmi, is a law professor at University of California Irvine. Her work on music and law includes: From J.C. Bach to Hip Hop: Musical Borrowing and Cultural Context about the diverse range of borrowing and inspiration in music across history and genre; Copyright on Catfish Row: Musical Borrowing, Porgy & Bess and Unfair Use  focusing on the influences on George Gershwin's work, and his estate's tight hold on it's copyright. She is currently writing a book about the influences of African American music and the business and legal implications of it's global reach. You can find links to some of her other work, and a little more information here.

What does it mean for something to be creative? Original? How much transformation must occur before we allow an artists to claim ownership of an idea? Appropriation, inspiration and creative borrowing is common across disciplines and traditions. Existing in everything from science to painting, from cooking to film. Today, we're focusing on appropriation in music.

“...There is a conception that some types of music are more original than others, and we often make those determinations in a very de-contextualized way. Originality doesn't mean creation from nothingness, it could mean that (not often the case in music), but it can also mean reusing something in a very creative and innovative way. So I think, originality should not be the opposite of copying. Originality might involve copying and it might not, that depends on genre, composer, [...etc]” (from the podcast)

We talk about the history of the idea of originality and creativity in music; The evolution of music copyright; The differences between music and literature; The many meanings of 'musical borrowing'; The role of estates in copyright enforcement; And some of the current trends in copyright cases brought against musicians. We briefly discuss the recent Blurred Lines case (information about the case here, and music here), and the work of George Gershwin (Porgy and Bess, Summertimeand the spiritual Sometimes I feel Like a Motherless Child).

Funmi's work considers the historic and conceptual issues that we find embedded in various rulings regarding musical borrowing. In 'From J.C. Back to Hip Hop' she tackles the actual creative practices of classical composers versus the myth of how we often believe they composed.

“... if we took the standards of how people create that are implicit in a lot of copyright law cases, that basically say 'you can't copy', most of what we consider to be great classical works couldn't have been created...” (from the podcast)

Her works highlights the huge variety of creative practices that exist, and have existed, throughout music history. Beethoven, for example, was known to be a skilled improvisational player and Debussey a commentator on Wagner. Yet, today we see many of these musicians as artists who crafted work in isolation, as if unaffected by their own social context and histories. Her work makes the argument that by recognizing some of these similarities between actual classical practice and contemporary practice, we can begin to embrace the multiple ways that creativity can occur.

“...hip hop artists are not the first artists to encounter this reaction to what some might perceive as too much borrowing...” (from the podcast)

In Copyright on Catfish Row she discusses the work of George Gershwin and through this exampl...

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