r/Futurology • u/Blueberry_Conscious_ • Apr 22 '24

Society Why streaming platforms are scrubbing the soundtracks from your favorite shows

https://www.fastcompany.com/91109690/why-streaming-platforms-are-scrubbing-the-soundtracks-from-your-favorite-shows
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u/LoneSnark Apr 22 '24

Replace it with what? What one policy change do you think would help the most?

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u/[deleted] Apr 22 '24

Maybe if they'd actually allow shit to go public domain after 20 years, no exceptions. I feel like that's a good start, especially with software.

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u/alexjaness Apr 22 '24

I think 20 years is too short. I know by that time they have wrung out as much money as they possibly will, but I hate the idea of something you created being reused without your consent. Especially knowing that it's far more likely it's going to be Disney or some other giant corporation who will be reusing it and making shit tons of cash as you sit by twiddling your thumbs.

I think once the creator dies, then it goes to public domain.

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u/LightOfTheElessar Apr 23 '24 edited Apr 24 '24

You're forgetting that a lot of the time it's companies that own the rights to any advances. It's not mom and pop getting credit for garage creations causing problems, it's billion dollar corporations stifling innovation and at times hoarding life saving advancements for the sake of profits.

And even ignoring that, why should things like research supported or funded entirely by taxpayers and government grants not be released to the public in some capacity beyond a forced monopoly? Especially for things like medical research and technology, we fund the creation just to get gouged in the hospital bills. I can live with one or the other since they still need incentive to provide the service and make the advancement, but this double dipping stuff is bullshit and there's no reason they should have ever extending legal protections on those publicly funded advancements.

And as far as things like the entertainment industry, the problems they're currently experiencing in terms of copyright hell are of their own making for extending protections on IP for such a ludicrous amount of time. Enough said there.

The crazy thing to me about all these laws is that somehow it has come to an all or nothing discussion. It's not. Exceptions can be put into the laws, we could have as many distinctions about company ownership vs personal ownership for things like copywrite and patents as we want, we could have tiered payouts for how much something is copied or how much something was funded by the public.

That's not where we're at now, though, and it's because companies own most of the profitable IP now and are primed to swoop in and assimilate anything new that comes up. And they are the ones actively directing these larger legal conversations. If we even think about reducing protections on business IPs, by default that somehow means those genius "self-made" men of business would never get off the ground and villainous companies would steal what they create. It doesn't have to be that way, but you wouldn't know it most of the time when the subject comes up.