Intellectual Property Abstract

Where Have the Gatekeepers Gone? 

This essay aims to investigate the practical and theoretical applications of an interdisciplinary, cultural studies approach to the topic of intellectual property.  I will first provide a brief survey and situation of the academic analysis of copyright management, both within and outside of the realm of cultural studies, and through comparison highlight the theoretical interventions a cultural studies approach has opened up in the field in addition and contrapuntally to other disciplines.  I will then go on to suggest ways in which the previous investigations and conclusions are complicated by the current media climate through a particular case study: the practice of covering popular songs by individuals on YouTube and the process of monetizing the videos.  As consumers are more readily becoming active media producers, reappropriators, and curators, the traditional downhill flow of media from copyright holders to consumers is shifting, along with the corresponding power dynamic. With the potential for internet fame and fortune seemingly open to anyone with a computer, the prevailing notion that “the gatekeepers are gone” suggests that a democratization of the music industry has arrived at last.   That is, the traditional barriers that once stood in the way of success (at various levels) within the notoriously rigid and exploitative music industry have given way, empowering the musician at the expense of the corporation.  However, the individual’s potential for success is very much still regulated by an ability to understand and negotiate intellectual property laws within the entertainment market, both in the case of promoting original material and also in the playing and monetizing of cover songs.  I argue that it is precisely at this moment of seemingly utopian disruption of the cultural hegemony that a cultural studies approach is most necessary, not just to better understand and critique the perceived change in the dynamics of economic power and consumer agency, but also the effects of this shift on ideology, community, and identity creation.  The gatekeepers are likely not gone at all – they have simply moved the gates.