He’s just on business, y’know?
I wanted to post something good for my first post of the new year. And I think I found two things that qualify.
First, BoingBoing reports that Creative Commons is getting ready to launch a tool that will allow artists to win back copyrights they might have signed over early in their careers.
Briefly, the U.S. Copyright Act gives creators a mechanism by which they can reclaim rights that they sold or licensed away many years ago. Often artists sign away their rights at the start of their careers when they lack sophisticated negotiating experience, access to good legal advice or any knowledge of the true value of their work so they face an unequal bargaining situation.
The provisions for getting one’s copyright back, however, are incredibly complex and involve a lot of jumping through hoops. CC is hoping that their new tool will make it easier on artists.
And second: I’m a big Tom Waits fan. And I knew that he had gained a lot of attention back in the early days of music television for his Ralph Bakshi-animated video for “The Heart of Saturday Night.” But it had never even occurred to me to think that he must be making videos for his new music, too.
If it had occurred to me, however, I’m fairly certain that this is exactly what I would have imagined them to be like.