Fair Use or Common Sense?

This week in class we have been reading and discussing the many layers of fair use in the the complicated world of digital technology in which we live. We have, at our fingertips, a plethora of music, video, images, sounds, written works, etc... and so how do we make sure what we "find" on the internet and then incorporate into our own works, we are doing in a manner that is respectful, lawful, moral and fair. This is the basis for which we have done our readings and blogging this week. I am not going to summarize any further as you would be welcome to read any number of my classmates blogs for wonderful summaries of the readings. The blog list can be found here. I am going to think out loud here for a few minutes about the gaps that I am left with within this conversation.

First, there are two very long documents that you could read through about Fair Use if you are interested: Love to Share (a document produced by the World Council of Churches) and The Code of Best Practices in Fair Use in Media Education

The documents are interesting to say the least and FULL of information. Information that to be honest and frank is hard for me to sift through. I am not really interested (although there is great need to have awareness concerning this very important topic) in sifting through all the grey areas. Why does it have to be so complicated? This topic makes some people very anxious to the point that they don't use any images, musci, video, etc.... they don't even share their own. I am a sharer! This does not make me anxious, but it does make me take pause... now.

So the gap I have, is what is it that I do in my ministry that will require me to abide by these fair use rules and regulations and when, how, and where will I access the information. This weeks class topic is a great place to start. What this week has done more than anything for me is
1) given me some basic resources and places to begin thinking about this
2) shined a light on a very important topic
3) allowed me to step into the work of other's and think about it from a new lens (how would I feel if my music was taken and someone profited from it)
4) opened a door to be more conscientious about images, music and videos that I currently use and in the future will use, to be sure I am playing and sharing nicely!


For my final project I took a song by Rachel Kurtz and made a video of scripture text and photos set to her song Hallelujah from her album Broken and Lowdown. The photographs I used were all taken by three people (me, and two friends and I asked permission to use them). The Biblical text came from my NRSV Bible. I am pretty sure everything I did was on the up and up. At the end of the video I have a "credits" page in which I name the photographers. I totally forgot to list Rachel as the artist of the song (I will change that for my final). I did not credit my NRSV Bible and I wonder if I need to do that. I will consult my small group and Professor Hess to see about that. When I took a look at Rachel's website I found this written next to the description of her latest album Broken and Lowdown

All words and music by Rachel Kurtz, except the music to “Hallelujah,” which borrows the music and chorus to the song Hallellujah by Leonard Cohen and used here in the spirit of fair use [Supreme Court Appeal (No. 92-1292)]

So here we are in the midst of this fair use conversation and the song I chose for my final is claiming "Fair Use" rights to her rendition of Leonard Cohen's original piece. I wondered about this and just assumed she was on the "up and up" in doing what she did because she is making money off this piece as well. Her version of Hallelujah was used in front of 40,000 ELCA Lutheran youth and adults in July 2012 in New Orleans at the National Youth Gathering. A great way to get "your music" out there.

This discover doesn't clear things up for me, it just leads me to more questions and wonderings about how I know and when I should and what if I don't.... It seems to boil down to common sense, but then if we lived in a time and place where common sense was a reliable state, we wouldn't need 73 page documents telling us what we can share, how we can share it and all the other information in between and side ways.