tokens of RO culture

The new machines capable of producing  mechanical reproductions of culture at the beginning of the 20th Century led directly to the creation of todays  RO society. A RO society that has dominated cultural creation for the last 100 years; a culture protected by copyright a culture and a world view now challenged directly by the digital natives and their transmedial response to the culture they are offered.

These new machines worked there magic by creating tokens of RO culture ( records), tokens that could be reproduced and distributed to those who wanted to experience the culture in question. It is the control of these tokens that sits at the heart of copyright law.Copyright is as much about the control of the distribution of these tokens of culture as the creative process itself.

It was the physical limitations of the analogue based RO token that really encourage the development of the RO culture around which todays content industries are based. Content industries which in many ways I would suggest copyright law has been designed to protect.  A copy of the analogue RO token is that not only is it difficult and expensive to make a true copy of the Analogue RO token , but each copy made was inferior to the original , and deteriorated with use. Even consumers sharing of content was not a significant problem to the content industry ( even though as a young man I well remember each cassette tape I brought had a notice on it stating that tape recording of copy written material was killing the recording business !!) again the physical nature of the RO token conspired against the consumer. If I led you my LP I cannot play it myself whilst you have it. Controlling distribution of copies was and is the key to content management.

Although this control over the distribution of copies of copy written material was and is at the very heart of Copy right legislation around the world, Lessig suggests ( and it is an argument that I find very persuasive ) it was the limitations of the RO token that actually allowed the growth of the content industry and not the supporting copyright legislation.

When the analogue token was replaced with a digital version , the old physical limitations of the analogue token were removed and despite stronger legislation and tougher enforcement copyright infringement increase and the content industry wobbled. The copyright owners lost control of distribution. Yes the ease with which the consumer could make copies was increased immeasurably by the introduction of digital tokens, and this was a problem for content owners , but it was the loss of control of distribution networks that really sent shock ways through the content industries.

It was understanding the importance of control of distribution that is according to Lessig central to the success of Apples ipod.
"The technologies of the internet were originally coded in a way that enabled free and perfect copies, and easy distribution, " steve Jobs realised that by changing the coding he could change the tokens characteristics and gain some control over both reproduction and distribution. Jobs through his use of Digital Rights Management Coding (DRM) offered the music industry and new way control content copying and distribution. Although not perfect it gaves the content providers a foothold in the new digital lands...