The Remix Manifesto:

1. Culture always builds on the past.
2. The Past always tries to control the future.
3. Our Future is becoming less free.
4. To build Free Societies, you must limit the control of the past.

This manifesto is the basis for Brett Gaylor’s energetic documentary about copyright laws and how they are limiting creativity in the present and future. An overall interesting documentary on the history of copyright laws, how they have become more strict. Featuring interviews with those trying to combat ridiculously strict copyright laws, RiP! A Remix Manifesto, should be an interesting watch for anyone interested in copyright effects on digital media in the modern world and how it all came to be. You can check out the full review of the documentary here.

…It used to be that, under the Statute of Anne (1710) that an owner of a particular work owned the rights to that creation for only 14 years, after which, it entered the public domain for others to build upon. However, in modern day the world over, the new copyright laws entail that the creator owns the exclusive rights to his/her work for their entire life-span plus 50-70 years. This means that right now, the only music available for legal public use is music from the 1920’s or so. RiP! explores many of the past and current copyright laws and asks what should be considered fair.