Chris Turner, Radiohead and Copyright

(I wasn’t going to post until tonight, but Wendy told me that the story I’m about to tell appeared on Copyfight. I’m not going to get scooped by BoingBoing this time, especially since I’m much closer to the story than their resident copyright guru, Cory Doctorow, is.)

Chris “Turner” Turner is an old friend of mine from our DJing days at Crazy Go Nuts University’s engineering pub, Clark Hall Pub. He is also an award-winning magazine writer and recently release his first book, Planet Simpson, a 450-page thick book that takes both a scholarly and a personal look at The Simpsons as both the reflector and director of popular culture. On a blog bearing the same name as his book, he (or more often, his wife, Ashley Bristowe) chronicles his adventures in the wild world of book publishing and promoting.

Turner has one entry that’s caught the interest of Copyfight. In the

entry, he talks about how he had to pay US$350 to Warner Brothers in order to quote a couple of

lines from a handful of Radiohead songs in Planet Simpson, while not

having to pay a single dime to Fox for the zillions of quotes from

Simpsons characters. He also notes:

“…of all the TV shows and movies and books and rock & roll songs I discuss in Planet Simpson (a vast, vast, vast

number), the only artists I’ve met personally are Radiohead. In other

words, I’ve had to pay to discuss the work of the only people cited in

the book who, in theory, I actually could’ve asked in person for

permission to use their work.”

To

my mind, quoting portions of lyrics and attributing them to the artist

should be considered fair use. However, the record companies don’t

think so, and this isn’t the first time this sort of thing has

happened. Pete Abrams had to change some strips of his webcomic, Sluggy Freelance, after being spanked for usiing — and attributing — the lyrics for James Taylor’s Fire and Rain.

We really need to spank the record companies.