In the light of the current public discussion on the Copyright Act and the antagonism against our cultural pirates, consider the use of cultural material as in the ‘cultural or digital commons’. The context is the Internet that could be a common space of cultural information available for the public to share, rework and remix. For example the old books or films made before 1923 or old Sparrow songs, on which copyright has expired, could form in part this growing pool of global information. Also, as opposed to opting for traditional copyright which would lock down a work and prevent such access or reworking, creators can opt for various licences, including those of these creative commons and add to this material.

Though Brazil has strong laws on copyright the entire suite of Baile Funk, which has emerged from Brazil’s ghettos, favelas, is now becoming popular in the present culture and relies mainly on remixing. For example the large Funk concerts in Rio de Janeiro present music which contains the music of, for example, Prince, New Order and 50 Cent. The crucial point is that this music is done without reference to copyright and this is what makes its development so rapid. Creators borrow freely from others and remix. The CDs, like in T&T are sold on the streets for little more than the cost to produce the physical medium. In other words artists do not receive royalties for the CDs but, listen to this, view this as promotion of their work! The artistes make their money by live performances of their work that attract thousands of fans. These parties and performances are extremely lucrative for the funk artists.

Brazil has been extremely keen on the support of these new business models that do not rely on restricting access to content or culture and has generally seen culture as a space to which citizens have a right to access as opposed to a commodity to which consumers have a right of purchase. But what has caused this?
 
What is fairly obvious is that new work is built on the body of work that has gone before- take for example the reggae or soca beat is common to its genre of music. Hip Hop, based on sampling, would not have been created if the copyright law making sampling illegal was in place then. Further, because of the digital technologies and communications it is easy to access and copy material at very high quality and the differences between the professionals and amateurs with regards to relevant skills are being leveled by technology.

The Internet, the ability to make perfect copies and mix material are the drivers of this change. But more importantly is the ability of users to also produce and disseminate new creations and to take part in cultural discourse. Users are now developing and distributing their own creations. Anyone can now become a creator, a publisher, an author via those new forms of cultural communication using a platform like U-Tube, to publish to the world at large. How can copyright work in an environment in which anyone can publish anything on the Internet that can be seen or used instantly by anyone in the world? Artists and producers no longer have to rely on the power of major corporations as producers or distributors. My-Space has allowed many up and coming bands to post their music on-line. Instead of a record label they can now gain exposure and disseminate their music via the web site. Bands have sold out tours and CDs etc using My-Space. The vision then is that artistes in the future will self-publish. The current model is for a few large major companies to control the music industry. The evolving digital Cultural Revolution will facilitate freer business models.

Our copyright law may be made more draconian (break down people’s doors), disregarding what is happening in these digital commons. Officially the majority of the vast number of remixes is illegal- video lip synching to recreating film trailers. Our law is becoming the armament of business and corporate interests against the digital commons. Local artistes as in Brazil can still benefit with open licences. Though this article is in relation to culture the same is happening in the world of open source computer software where again people put software on the Internet free or for sale. However the user has the right to upgrade, add and resell or post the new work under the same conditions as the original software. It would be a pity if our Parliament were to ignore the digital commons. maryking@tstt.net.tt (reference E. Stark: Free Culture and the Internet)