I wonder if the whole #AI thing will finally convince artists that modern #copyright regime was never meant to protect *them*.
It was meant to protect the middlemen. The Amazons, the Spotifies, the Sonys, the Disneys. The film studios, the publishing houses.
Now the middlemen figured out they own basically all of art, and that they can just train a computer on that, to replace artists with a piece of software.
And then stop paying artists even the pittance they were being paid so far.
🧵
@rysiek
1/ I see the idea of #copyright from multiple POVs.
I'm a writer & #editor. I've worked both freelance & in traditional #publishing. The system initially worked very well for #writers, & was well worth their portion of the pie:
* Publishers screened out bad writing, mentored less experienced writers to improve.
* Several people would edit each book/short story (not cheap).
* In the days before internet, you NEEDED to get onto shelves to get noticed. Publishers were able to provide that access & the marketing. (This was NOT cheap to do. Writers could not afford that level of marketing. They also didn't know who could help them or how; publishers had that industry knowledge & networking.)
* Copyright protection & lawyering up for libel suits, etc. would also be provided free to the author, as needed.
* Agents (another middleman) would (and still do) provide excellent contract negotiations (not only btwn #authors & publishers, but for movie rights, sequel issues, etc.)
@rysiek
2/
* Before #PrintOnDemand #POD and online book sales, a book run was generally 10K copies or more. Someone had to organize & oversee the logistics of moving them all to stores & maintaining stock at the point of sale. Plus, 10K copies requires a lot more storage space than you would think. That's also another cost.
* If you were lucky & your book sold more than 10K, another print run were another cost. Translations & international sales meant more expenses.
* Back then, the only form of real "self-publish" was #VantiyPress, which was as much of a ripoff and waste of money then as it is today.
Basically, it's easy to be comfortable in this modern era and think that things have always been as they are now, that the #arts were always something that #artists could do on their own and pay the rent. It's easy for younger people to think that the middlemen were always unnecessary, but that's not true.
Life was VERY different before the internet.
3/ I do think that we are seeing a new paradigm shift in how things are done.
For too long, we've been trying to govern the internet using 18th Century methods, but it's a square peg that doesn't fit into that old round hole. We've been trying to make it work, and getting by with it mostly, but also setting ourselves up for a disaster (especially with topics like #Copyright).
But I also think that ideas like #TheFediverse and modern #SelfPublishing are allowing #artists to flip things. They are allowing "the Common Man" (and woman) to put their art on the market without the need for the middlemen anymore, and empowering more independent voices. They are giving #artists and #writers a way around the corporate gatekeepers.
#WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon
https://annethewriter33.wordpress.com/2023/07/06/the-future-is-federated/
@rysiek
4/
To believe that #AI will merely be a harmless and purely benevolent tool for everyone is naive, imo-- especially for those in #writing and #publishing.
The #automobile revolutionized the world. In the process, it also put a lot of blacksmiths out of work, and sent a lot of horses to glue factories & slaughterhouses.
I see my #editorial career as being like a blacksmith in the age of #AI. It won't be a common job in the future, & the few who do it will have a very different job description & use very different tools than I ever have. Software like #Grammarly & #ChatGPT can already do much of the work I used to do-- not as well as a human right now, but it won't be long until they can reliably replace #editors.
But once again, we'll be handing our #art over to corporations-- the same oligarchs who plowed over our #copyrights to train their AI will control the software that they'll make us reliant on.
#WritingCommunity #WritersOfMastodon #Writer's #ArtificialIntelligence
@AnneTheWriter1 thank you for sharing your perspective. As I read it, we mostly vehemently agree. 
Though some seem to read my thread as advocating for completely abolishing copyright, I did not say that.
My livelihood also depends on copyright, even if I am in a completely different line of work. And tools that I use and make — mostly free/open-source software — rely on it as far as enforcement of libre licensing is concerned, for example.
I also get paid to write sometimes.
@AnneTheWriter1 I agree that the Internet changed things dramatically.
And I cannot even tell you how strongly I agree with this sentiment:
> For too long, we've been trying to govern the internet using 18th Century methods, but it's a square peg that doesn't fit into that old round hole.
This hits the nail on the head. That's why I am talking about copyright reform. And if I read what you wrote correctly you seem to agree to some extent?
I do also see some hope in self publishing and such.
We do indeed agree on much of what you had in your original post.
One point I wanted to make was that in earlier days, producers and middlemen definitely earned their pay, in #publishing and most everywhere that #creators could make money. There were a lot of hands dipping into every creative project.
But while I think #technology has changed a lot of aspects of every creative industry, I think there's still a place for those middlemen-- not every creator can or wishes to do everything on their own.
I also wanted to point out that big data and corporations have taken more and more away from creators in many fields, while offering less and less of the profits and of the rights to their own creations. And now, they are controlling the very tech that creators will soon become dependant upon.
(I tend to be verbose sometimes. My apologies if I was going on too long.)
#WritingCommunity #WritersLife #Authors #Art #Artists #Writing #Copyright #Writers
> One point I wanted to make was that in earlier days, producers and middlemen definitely earned their pay
No question about that.
> not every creator can or wishes to do everything on their own.
Nor about that.
My point is that the power structures that current copyright regime sets up harm artists and prop up the middlemen to a point where artists struggle to make a living.
And that "the purpose of the system is what it does".
> I also wanted to point out that big data and corporations have taken more and more away from creators in many fields,
Again, fully agreed!
The point I was making is that that is in a very real, meaningful way *enabled* by the current form of copyright laws.
I do not believe this can be dealt with *without* solid copyright reform, in fact.
> (I tend to be verbose sometimes. My apologies if I was going on too long.)
Not at all. I tend to get pretty verbose myself, and I definitely prefer verbose clarity to terse ambiguity.
@rysiek
My worry is that the common person creator cannot get results from Congress which would favor the creators, and that the big corporations will set the rules-- in their favor, of course.
I don't know of any system that could be put in place which would both protect from Big Data scraping and over-profitting, while also allowing creators to make a living in an era of #AI.
I guess I just don't hold out much hope that any actual changes would not simply make things worse.😞
#Copyright #Copyrights #CopyrightReform #WritingCommunity #Writers #Authors #Art
@AnneTheWriter1 I've been involved in lobbying in public interest (as an activist) within the EU many times over the last decade or so, and more often than not the outcomes were not all bad.
Artists, writers, creative folk in general are a force of nature. If they choose to take on Big Tech and Big Content, Big Tech and Big Content will fall.
Lobbying is all about creating a narrative. Who in the room knows how to create a compelling one better, some corporate drones, or actual writers?..
it is the lucky ones who get to become the blacksmiths (coincidentally I'm reading a book about the development of country garages in Britain in early 20th century, just as the motorcar first started to become popular, and some blacksmiths moved into car repair) - others might end up like the horses...
Michał "rysiek" Woźniak · 🇺🇦
AnneTheWriter
Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UK