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Theft: A History of Music
Theft: A History of Music: This comic lays out 2000 years of musical history. A neglected part of musical history. Again and again there have been attempts to police music; to restrict borrowing and cultural cross-fertilization. But music builds on itself. To those who think that mash-ups and sampling started with YouTube or the DJ's turntables, it might be shocking to find that musicians have been borrowing - extensively borrowing - from each other since music began. Then why try to stop that process? The reasons varied. Philosophy, religion, politics, race - again and again, race - and law. And because music affects us so deeply, those struggles were passionate ones. They still are.
The history in this book runs from Plato to Blurred Lines and beyond. You will read about the Holy Roman Empire's attempts to standardize religious music using the first great musical technology (notation) and the inevitable backfire of that attempt. You will read about troubadours and church composers, swapping tunes (and remarkably profane lyrics), changing both religion and music in the process. You will see diatribes against jazz for corrupting musical culture, against rock and roll for breaching the color-line. You will learn about the lawsuits that, surprisingly, shaped rap. You will read the story of some of music's iconoclasts - from Handel and Beethoven to Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ray Charles, the British Invasion and Public Enemy.
To understand this history fully, one has to roam wider still - into musical technologies from notation to the sample deck, aesthetics, the incentive systems that got musicians paid, and law's 250 year struggle to assimilate music, without destroying it in the process. Would jazz, soul or rock and roll be legal if they were reinvented today? We are not sure. Which as you will read, is profoundly worrying because today, more than ever, we need the arts.
All of this makes up our story. It is assuredly not the only history of music. But it is definitely a part - and a fascinating part - of that history. We hope you like it.
The history in this book runs from Plato to Blurred Lines and beyond. You will read about the Holy Roman Empire's attempts to standardize religious music using the first great musical technology (notation) and the inevitable backfire of that attempt. You will read about troubadours and church composers, swapping tunes (and remarkably profane lyrics), changing both religion and music in the process. You will see diatribes against jazz for corrupting musical culture, against rock and roll for breaching the color-line. You will learn about the lawsuits that, surprisingly, shaped rap. You will read the story of some of music's iconoclasts - from Handel and Beethoven to Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ray Charles, the British Invasion and Public Enemy.
To understand this history fully, one has to roam wider still - into musical technologies from notation to the sample deck, aesthetics, the incentive systems that got musicians paid, and law's 250 year struggle to assimilate music, without destroying it in the process. Would jazz, soul or rock and roll be legal if they were reinvented today? We are not sure. Which as you will read, is profoundly worrying because today, more than ever, we need the arts.
All of this makes up our story. It is assuredly not the only history of music. But it is definitely a part - and a fascinating part - of that history. We hope you like it.
Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 2017
13 people are currently reading
213 people want to read
About the author
James Boyle
106 books14 followersJames Boyle is William Neal Reynolds Professor of Law at Duke Law School and the former Chairman of the Board of Creative Commons. His books include The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind; Shamans, Software and Spleens: Law and the Construction of the Information Society; Cultural Environmentalism (with Lawrence Lessig); and Bound By Law: Tales from the Public Domain and Intellectual Property: Law & the Information Society - Cases & Materials: An Open Casebook (with Jennifer Jenkins).
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
November 16, 2017
it was ok, maybe at times dealing with some topics too swiftly
October 5, 2017
Wow, what a book!
Amazing book! Written by 2 law professors about the ins and outs of copyright for music, using a comic to bring it across. Never knew so much about who borrowed from whom, the role technology played and the effects it had, when the law came in and what effect that's having.
Amazing book! Written by 2 law professors about the ins and outs of copyright for music, using a comic to bring it across. Never knew so much about who borrowed from whom, the role technology played and the effects it had, when the law came in and what effect that's having.
September 25, 2019
Read in bits between slow breakfasts at CCL.
March 18, 2017
This is the second of two books from the "Duke Center for the Study of the Public Domain." It is the better of the two books available. The book does a good job of discussing the history of western music from Greeks to the present (2016). Specifically, how property rights helped shape the course of musical development. You join a professor of music history and a couple of lawyers as they wander through time and space.
Beyond the legalese, I learned a lot of new info about the origins of blues, gospel, classical, rock and roll. I'm not going to spend a lot of this review going the musical history, but this book left me with a lot of samples, tracks, cords, and riffs I need to google. This context is important because it helps inform the books even handed treatment of the tensions in copyright law. You gotta borrow to create, but when you create you want to keep ownership of what you create (Just ask Chopin). How should laws balance these two opposing desires? To answer this question, it helps to trace the use of a how a gospel song moved from the church, through Ray Charles, into Kayne, and then two rappers annoyed about Bush's response to Katrina. Copyright law changed during their life times.
How could rights effect music? Early 80's rap used a lot of samples, and that stopped after some court rulings. After the rulings, the trend shifted from having 100s of samples to only one or two. For example, Puff Daddy's use of "every breath you take" compared to Early De la Soul.
Or, look to the historical shift from musicians and artists making a living off of Patronage, into super-stardom a la the Rolling Stones, to the situation today where a lot of musicians cobble together a full time musical profession from merch, live music, and other revenue streams. The book uses the famous quote from London School of Economics student Mick Jagger. To paraphrase " Music was only highly profitable to artists for about 25 years, before that they didn't make much and now they don't make much, all because the rights they controlled changed and the market changed".
Copyright law is explained, historical practice is discussed, and then a character (the history professor) will try and apply the law as it is in that point of the book to the next period of history. The professor does a good job of applying laws to the new (to him) facts and usually finds out he predicted the wrong outcome b/c the judge relied upon some precedence or reasoning the character didn't learn yet. This is an excellent way to introduce readers to the practice of legal reasoning.
The criticisms that keep this book from getting 5 stars include a few jarring transitions, some tangential thought bubbles that felt distracting, and two awkward metaphors (particularly the 2,000 leagues above/below scene). These mistakes are easy to forgive given how great the rest of this book is.
Beyond the legalese, I learned a lot of new info about the origins of blues, gospel, classical, rock and roll. I'm not going to spend a lot of this review going the musical history, but this book left me with a lot of samples, tracks, cords, and riffs I need to google. This context is important because it helps inform the books even handed treatment of the tensions in copyright law. You gotta borrow to create, but when you create you want to keep ownership of what you create (Just ask Chopin). How should laws balance these two opposing desires? To answer this question, it helps to trace the use of a how a gospel song moved from the church, through Ray Charles, into Kayne, and then two rappers annoyed about Bush's response to Katrina. Copyright law changed during their life times.
How could rights effect music? Early 80's rap used a lot of samples, and that stopped after some court rulings. After the rulings, the trend shifted from having 100s of samples to only one or two. For example, Puff Daddy's use of "every breath you take" compared to Early De la Soul.
Or, look to the historical shift from musicians and artists making a living off of Patronage, into super-stardom a la the Rolling Stones, to the situation today where a lot of musicians cobble together a full time musical profession from merch, live music, and other revenue streams. The book uses the famous quote from London School of Economics student Mick Jagger. To paraphrase " Music was only highly profitable to artists for about 25 years, before that they didn't make much and now they don't make much, all because the rights they controlled changed and the market changed".
Copyright law is explained, historical practice is discussed, and then a character (the history professor) will try and apply the law as it is in that point of the book to the next period of history. The professor does a good job of applying laws to the new (to him) facts and usually finds out he predicted the wrong outcome b/c the judge relied upon some precedence or reasoning the character didn't learn yet. This is an excellent way to introduce readers to the practice of legal reasoning.
The criticisms that keep this book from getting 5 stars include a few jarring transitions, some tangential thought bubbles that felt distracting, and two awkward metaphors (particularly the 2,000 leagues above/below scene). These mistakes are easy to forgive given how great the rest of this book is.
March 30, 2019
An interesting comic that looks at the history of music, and the rise of copyright and licensing. Starting with the beginnings of music notation, the comic proceeds to show how early on, composers and musicians freely borrowed from each other to create new compositions. But even then, some spoke out about the dangers of creating 'new music' and attempted to 'freeze' how music should be performed.
The invention of the printing press and the formalisation of music notation would change matters by creating a market for composers to release compositions. But it would also raise the question of what constitutes original work: it is around now that the law steps in, giving authors and composers a legal write over their compositions. But with the history of composers borrowing and altering previous music to create new one, questions over how much 'copying' of music began to arise.
The technology to record and replay music would change the landscape, for now people have the ability to record new ways of creating music from the same composition. Thus arose the idea of copyright over a particular recording. As music became more popular and commercialised, copyright would become a contentions topic, for while it allowed composers and musicians to make a living from creating and playing music, it also allowed the rights holder to restrict how the music or composition could be used.
The creation of radio would introduce new possibilities and problems. For now, a recording that previously would only be heard by a person who bought the record, could now be broadcast to a vast audience, and the idea of licensing music to be heard was introduced. This would complicate copyright matters, for now the question became whether you needed to license snippets of music. Numerous lawsuits would rise over the question of music sampling. And that is where matters now stand.
Interleaved among the numerous questions raised over the copyright of compositions and licensing of music is the history and connections between the various forms of music, from jazz, soul, rock and roll to rap as well as historically important musicians who developed the various art forms.
The book is available for download under a Creative Commons license.
The invention of the printing press and the formalisation of music notation would change matters by creating a market for composers to release compositions. But it would also raise the question of what constitutes original work: it is around now that the law steps in, giving authors and composers a legal write over their compositions. But with the history of composers borrowing and altering previous music to create new one, questions over how much 'copying' of music began to arise.
The technology to record and replay music would change the landscape, for now people have the ability to record new ways of creating music from the same composition. Thus arose the idea of copyright over a particular recording. As music became more popular and commercialised, copyright would become a contentions topic, for while it allowed composers and musicians to make a living from creating and playing music, it also allowed the rights holder to restrict how the music or composition could be used.
The creation of radio would introduce new possibilities and problems. For now, a recording that previously would only be heard by a person who bought the record, could now be broadcast to a vast audience, and the idea of licensing music to be heard was introduced. This would complicate copyright matters, for now the question became whether you needed to license snippets of music. Numerous lawsuits would rise over the question of music sampling. And that is where matters now stand.
Interleaved among the numerous questions raised over the copyright of compositions and licensing of music is the history and connections between the various forms of music, from jazz, soul, rock and roll to rap as well as historically important musicians who developed the various art forms.
The book is available for download under a Creative Commons license.
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April 14, 2024A history of 'theft' (aka theft, aka borrowing, aka influence) in music, from Ancient Greece to modern pop. This is part of the genre of non-fiction graphic novels which use the format to explain a thing. There's a lot of familiar tropes from this type of book. The authors as characters, going on a journey through the story, interacting with the people the book is about. Visual depictions of events. Double page spreads doubling as montages. Slightly creaky jokes where the authors do something anachronistic or strange to the subjects.
Theft is a fairly good example of the non-fic graphic novel genre, albeit with some caveats. Most of these are around the presence and actions of the narrators. Two are university lecturers and experts on the topics and the third is... I don't know. He's not introduced and yet seems like he's supposed to be a real person. It's strange. There's also attempts at humour from these main characters which generally falls flat. It's a serious topic, you can take it seriously.
Where it works is that the topic is interesting and they've dug deep into the (Western) history of music, copyright, lawsuits and the like. The art is pretty good, which is a bit of a triumph seeing as Aoki, the original artist, died part way through and they had to restart from scratch and they had to bring in new artists.
It's a bit dry in parts, as a legal overview would be, but I still found it worth reading and I learned a surprising amount of things. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go steal some riffs.
Theft is a fairly good example of the non-fic graphic novel genre, albeit with some caveats. Most of these are around the presence and actions of the narrators. Two are university lecturers and experts on the topics and the third is... I don't know. He's not introduced and yet seems like he's supposed to be a real person. It's strange. There's also attempts at humour from these main characters which generally falls flat. It's a serious topic, you can take it seriously.
Where it works is that the topic is interesting and they've dug deep into the (Western) history of music, copyright, lawsuits and the like. The art is pretty good, which is a bit of a triumph seeing as Aoki, the original artist, died part way through and they had to restart from scratch and they had to bring in new artists.
It's a bit dry in parts, as a legal overview would be, but I still found it worth reading and I learned a surprising amount of things. Now if you will excuse me, I need to go steal some riffs.
February 14, 2021
Similar to their shorter "Bound by Law" on fair use, this is a much more ambitious graphic novel, starting from the Greek development of musical notation (seen as a way to define traditional styles so that nobody came up with anything too unconventional) through troubadours taking religious songs and turning them into romantic/sexy lyrics, through the invention of printed sheet music, classical composers sampling each other, the birth of rock and roll, John Fogerty being sued for stealing from his own work and the modern age of sampling and downloading.
The point is that musicians and composers have always drawn on their contemporaries and predecessors, and that modern copyright case law has become extremely restrictive (though they're not suggesting musicians don't deserve credit and pay, depending how much someone borrows). There's a lot of case law and legal history and I don't know this would be of interest if you're not a copyright nerd, but I am.
You can find it available for free legal download if you Google.
The point is that musicians and composers have always drawn on their contemporaries and predecessors, and that modern copyright case law has become extremely restrictive (though they're not suggesting musicians don't deserve credit and pay, depending how much someone borrows). There's a lot of case law and legal history and I don't know this would be of interest if you're not a copyright nerd, but I am.
You can find it available for free legal download if you Google.
September 3, 2018
Perhaps the coolest thing here is how laws and regulations can shape entire industries in fundamental ways. This might seem like a banal observation but watching the evolution of music over hundreds of years being shaped by laws and their long-term consequences is enough to instill anyone with an appreciation for the history-shaping effects of legal debate. Also, regulation is tough business. There are no easy answers when something as universal as musical notation can be used a mechanism of control.
The comic is full of subtle references from art, literature and popculture (perhaps in keeping with the author's idea of "theft"), but on the whole doesn't get too creative with the form. Few pages do stand out for their creative brilliance, but only a few. It's understandably focused on function more than form, and there are some highlights like the split-personality thing they use to illustrate the two sides of the copyright debate.
Recommend to those who'd like to dive into the legal side of the music industry in an accessible and fun way. It has been more important in shaping today's music scene than we might reckon.
The comic is full of subtle references from art, literature and popculture (perhaps in keeping with the author's idea of "theft"), but on the whole doesn't get too creative with the form. Few pages do stand out for their creative brilliance, but only a few. It's understandably focused on function more than form, and there are some highlights like the split-personality thing they use to illustrate the two sides of the copyright debate.
Recommend to those who'd like to dive into the legal side of the music industry in an accessible and fun way. It has been more important in shaping today's music scene than we might reckon.
February 17, 2019
Authors of the book have chosen a very interesting way to convey a somewhat complicated history of music and it's copyright laws - comic.
Written by two law professors it tries to show that most of the music is basically a remix. And how copyright laws which were started for a good cause could stop the innovation in this field. Good thing technology in recent years made music available for anyone to listen as well as create it. I believe this quote from the book sums it up pretty well:
P.S. Make sure to follow the audio companion of the book which makes it so much more interactive!
Written by two law professors it tries to show that most of the music is basically a remix. And how copyright laws which were started for a good cause could stop the innovation in this field. Good thing technology in recent years made music available for anyone to listen as well as create it. I believe this quote from the book sums it up pretty well:
We have two realms of culture now. One, Informal, fleeting, and online. The other kind of music Is legal, licensed, pervasive and permanent.
P.S. Make sure to follow the audio companion of the book which makes it so much more interactive!
June 9, 2021
read for research for step project 2021 on william alexander and scottish colonialism (i know it seems an odd read for that, but it was more for methodology than anything research based)
brilliant. explores the intricacies of copyright law and the issues surrounding it - if we didn't copy other musicians, we wouldn't have music at all! both informative and comedic, and just generally a fun read. talked intriguingly about the way in which new music (e.g. rap or jazz) is always railed against at the beginning, and then melds into acceptable canon a few years later, and how racism and xenophobia is tied up with negative reactions to rock music and jazz.
going to go listen to tutti frutti now.
brilliant. explores the intricacies of copyright law and the issues surrounding it - if we didn't copy other musicians, we wouldn't have music at all! both informative and comedic, and just generally a fun read. talked intriguingly about the way in which new music (e.g. rap or jazz) is always railed against at the beginning, and then melds into acceptable canon a few years later, and how racism and xenophobia is tied up with negative reactions to rock music and jazz.
going to go listen to tutti frutti now.
July 28, 2018
A graphic novel that explains complicated concepts of public domain and copyright in the context of mostly Western musical history? Yep. And it's done so well. It's a synergy of cameos and quotes from every big name in music; concise explanations of legal milestones shared by several likeable (well, usually) contemporary characters; and some amazing art that convincingly conveys time travel, major social change, critical themes, ongoing debate, plus a ton of cogent facts. Let the music play...
One nitpick: The story is better than the title. And is 'theft' the word ('borrowing' seems viable).
One nitpick: The story is better than the title. And is 'theft' the word ('borrowing' seems viable).
October 2, 2017
A refreshing look at the evolution of music, copyright, musical notation and attempts to control it over the ages. A beautiful visual narration of how music, technology, law and business intertwine and evolve together. The book is full of witty jokes and puns and tracks the history of copyright law. In addition the graphic novel talks about the origins of the Jazz, Blues, Soul and sampled music. I also liked how the comic riffs on popular memes and imagery and remixes them. The graphic novel format makes this complex legal history topic very accessible. Definitely thought-provoking.
January 6, 2018
What an entertaining look at music copyright history!
The lessons were fairly clear, the artwork was superb, the musical mentions made me incredibly happy. This is a fun graphic novel to learn from and I highly recommend it to any music nerds out there.
The lessons were fairly clear, the artwork was superb, the musical mentions made me incredibly happy. This is a fun graphic novel to learn from and I highly recommend it to any music nerds out there.
April 12, 2020
A history of music through the lens of borrowing, remixing, and copyright law and practice. Took me forever to read, surprisingly. Informative, complex, and laced with lots of music nerd Easter eggs (and frequent bad puns).
November 14, 2021
This book did a great job incorporating three content areas, art, music, and history. As an artist, I enjoyed looking at the artwork in each panel. It was interesting to learn about music in a historical aspect. Overall, great novel.
November 3, 2017
A well-written, fun and engaging comic that deals with music and copyright? Would not have thought it possible, but here it is. Well worth a read!!
August 15, 2018
excellent and interesting history of music through the lens of copyright law.
October 11, 2020
This was spectacular. I loved all the references and the thorough explanation of the topic. The companion website with curated audio and video was especially cool.
August 1, 2021
An entertaining way to learn about copyright history in music, and all the borrowing that has gone on to make music what it is today.
November 12, 2021
Read for EDU 470- Week 11
January 28, 2024
Had to read in a day for class. Interesting way to present the basics for copyright law, but felt a little all over the place in its presentation
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews