Commander Hadfield's Amazing Cover Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Disappears Today, Thanks To Copyright

from the copyright:-making-culture-disappear-since-1709 dept

Tue, May 13th 2014 10:14am — Mike Masnick

A year ago, we wrote a whole post looking at the copyright questions raised by Canadian astronaut, Commander Chris Hadfield, doing a cover version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," along with an astounding music video in space, as he prepared to return to earth. Hadfield, for months, had been a great ambassador for the space program, using a variety of social media to communicate with folks back on the planet about what his day was like. The "Space Oddity" video just cemented his place as a key figure helping to generate interest in the space program through regular public communications with everyone in a very accessible way.

In our post, we noted that while the copyright issues were complicated, thankfully, it didn't really matter "because after a bunch of back and forth negotiations, they got all the permissions they needed directly from David Bowie." Except, as we find out today, that's not fully true. Because Commander Hadfield posted on Twitter this morning that today is the last day for the video online, because they only had a license to use it for one year. As I write, the video is still online, so watch it soon. It's got over 22 million views, and it's about to go away... because of copyright and the idea that everything needs to be licensed. This is really depressing, but it shows, once again, a situation that is destroying important cultural works, rather than helping to make them available. One would hope that David Bowie (and/or whoever else holds the copyrights in question) would recognize just how insanely bad this looks and would "grant" a perpetual free license to keep this video online. Bowie, himself, has had a rather progressive view of copyright for many years. Back in 2002, for example, Bowie declared that "I'm fully confident that copyright, for instance, will no longer exist in 10 years, and authorship and intellectual property is in for such a bashing," and further noting that this is "terribly exciting."

Well, it's 12 years later, and copyright still exists, and the copyright on a Bowie song is about to destroy some culture. It would be nice if he was able to do something about it to stop that from happening.

And... now that there's no more license, the copyright questions come back into play... and the answer is that it's still "complicated." The copyright depends on where the video was filmed. Since the International Space Station has different sections in which technically different countries' laws apply. It is believed most or all of the video was filmed in the NASA section, meaning US laws apply. And while the US has compulsory licenses for cover songs, there may be some issues in that Hadfield modified the lyrics slightly (taking out the bit where Major Tom dies...). But, the bigger issue, unfortunately, is that sync licenses -- which allow you to "sync" music to video -- are not compulsory, and need to be licensed.

It is possible that someone could make a fair use argument here -- it's for non-commercial use, it's arguably transformative, it likely helps rather than harms the market for the original work -- but I'm not sure that would convince a judge.

Either way, I hope everyone can agree that it's just sad that this video is disappearing.

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Filed Under: censorship, chris hadfield, copyright, culture, david bowie, licensing, space, sync licenses

77 Comments

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Violynne (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 9:32am

If an artist wants to remove themselves publicly like this, who are we to disagree with their choice?

Let the void take back the video. It just means another video will take its place, and considering the tremendous amount of new content the website offers, I feel no pity for David should he start whining about being forgotten.
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TheResidentSkeptic (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 10:10am

PUBLIC loses again.
An Astronaut - whose entire career was funded by the PUBLIC - while in flight for NASA on the ISS - which are both funded by the PUBLIC - makes a magnificent transformative FAIR USE video for the PUBLIC to watch and learn and remember David's version and the PUBLIC loses it for another ONE HUNDRED YEARS before it enters the PUBLIC domain (if ever).

sarc/
Thank God copyright saves the PUBLIC from things like this by taking it down...
/sarc
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Indy, 13 May 2014 @ 10:23am

Shameful
Ownership claims of an intangible is morally corrupt. Period.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:24am

Has Mike Masnick ever come out and admitted he hates everything about copyright? Or is it all just weasel words?
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Copyright Blows, 13 May 2014 @ 10:25am

Download Hadfield's Major Tom
The following URL to download it before it is too late:

https://www.ssyoutube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:26am

So US copyright law extends into space....interesting.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 10:32am

Commander Hadfield's Amazing Cover Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Disappears Today
Ha! Tim's rubbing off on you.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:33am

Re:
Who cares about Bowie, a memorable public moment is being stricken from the record, and one that could inspire youngsters to study technology, and society and culture is the poorer for it.
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beech, 13 May 2014 @ 10:37am

How the duck are sync licenses even a thing?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:38am

Re: Commander Hadfield's Amazing Cover Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Disappears Today
"Tim's rubbing off on you " that sounds bad in so many ways , I can't stop laughing.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:39am

Optimistic
I wish I were as optimistic as Bowie was back then--unfortunately, I can't see copyrights and patents being eliminated in my lifetime.
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Michael, 13 May 2014 @ 10:43am

Re:
No. That's crazy.

Space is part of the United States now, so all US laws apply there.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:43am

Re:
Technically speaking, no, not into space, per se. But the portions of the ISS that belong to the US are considered US territory. The same would be true of a US-constructed/owned/operated moon base.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 10:47am

I think we should change the name of Copyright to Culturelock.
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Jayson, 13 May 2014 @ 10:48am

Copyright
I still am a believer for copyright to be cut down to 7 years - same as anyone's credit history - and then it goes public domain. It enforces the content makers/publishers etc to deliver new fresh content. Not sit back and rake in cash years later. We all know they make the most from the content the first year it goes out, after 7 it hardly makes anything except forcing lawsuits for licenses etc. Stupid stuff that has nothing to do with the content to begin other than our teenage children would like to experience what we got to experience but can't because the big heads say so.
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RM Arthur (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 10:49am

Compulsory Sync Licenses
I agree that sync licenses should be modified to follow the compulsory scheme of mechanical licenses. My copyright practice would be much simpler with that change in copyright law.

However, NASA could probably afford to just extend the sync license, given that they obtained one originally. It would probably just take an email.
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Poetic Stanziel, 13 May 2014 @ 10:52am

Re: Re:
He should have recorded it in the Russian sections of the space station, because everybody knows that Russia doesn't give a shit about non-Russian copyright.
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Ninja (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 11:02am

Arrrrr! Challenge accepted.

Try to take it down, we are waiting.

- The Pirates
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The Ultimate Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 11:11am

Disappearing?
"Either way, I hope everyone can agree that it's just sad that this video is disappearing."

Avast, ye mateys! It's not disappearing, because I have made a copy, which will be kept safely at an undisclosed location. And if and when copyright law is eliminated or rendered sufficiently sane, it will go right back up!
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Michael, 13 May 2014 @ 11:14am

Re: Compulsory Sync Licenses
I agree that sync licenses should be modified to follow the compulsory scheme of mechanical licenses

Yup. Instead of getting rid of the rediculous and redundant license necessary to play a video and audio at the same time we should add more to the cumpulsory licensing.

Can anyone actually come up with a good argument to even have sync licenses?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 11:19am

Re:
except making works less available to the public is the exact opposite of what copyright should accomplish
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Designerfx (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 11:21am

Re: Download Hadfield's Major Tom
This works, too - it's easier to choose formats from savefrom.

http://en.savefrom.net/#url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 11:22am

Re:
It's not a weasel if it's correct.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 11:33am

Re: Download Hadfield's Major Tom
Sadly, all downloading gives you is the video. The description, the comments, nothing of that will be saved by downloading.

Even if everybody downloads the video, culture will still be lost.
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Uriel-238 (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 11:36am

Also available by torrent.
If Mr. Bowie wanted to score points, he could call his lawyers to just give an unlimited license to the public regarding Commander Hadfield's performance.

Available on the Pirate Bay in 720p incidentally. Sharing is caring.

As of this posting I have not received a US National Security Letter or any classified gag order from an agent of the United States
This post does not contain an encrypted secret message
Tuesday, May 13, 2014 11:35:01 AM
prophet umbrella general jump ice cream pincer frock spark
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 11:39am

Re: Re: Commander Hadfield's Amazing Cover Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Disappears Today
O.o
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That One Guy (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 12:01pm

Re:
Haven't you been paying attention, US law(especially copyright) already applies globally, so it only makes sense to expand it into space as well. /s
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 12:08pm

Re: Re:
Don't you mean universally? I heard the aliens owed more than all the money in the 48 universes for listening to our air wave pollution.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 12:10pm

Re: Copyright
Or at the very least bring it in line with patents. Why should scribblings get vastly more protections than inventions?
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Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 12:24pm

Re:
Music industry and legal inertia.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 12:49pm

Re: Also available by torrent.
If Mr. Bowie wanted to score points, he could call his lawyers to just give an unlimited license to the public regarding Commander Hadfield's performance.

Except that it is likely that the copyright is held by whichever label he was with when he recorded it, as that was the only way he could get records made and available to his fans.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 12:59pm

"If you strike me down now I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."

As soon as it disappears, it will be reposted a hundred times for each "infringment" that is squashed.
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Michael, 13 May 2014 @ 1:03pm

Re: Re: Re:
I would bet that the recording device was Japanese.
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Ivan Pope, 13 May 2014 @ 1:17pm

Major Tom
You know, Major Tom doesn't actually die in the song. His death may be implicit, but he's still alive at the end.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it

Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 1:46pm

Re:
Must be a good question, seeing as he felt the need to censor it.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 1:59pm

Re: Re:
Fool. There is no 'he' in censorship around here. There is the community. I do not know how many clicks of the report button from individual users it takes, but I know it is more than one.
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Watchit (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 2:12pm

Thanks for the heads up! The video is now safely archived on my computer for future viewing!
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d.free, 13 May 2014 @ 2:20pm

Since he's a "Canadian astronaut", his use might fit into the "Non-commercial user-generated content" clause in Canadian Law.

"29.21 (1) It is not an infringement of copyright for an individual to use an existing work or other subject-matter or copy of one, which has been published or otherwise made available to the public, in the creation of a new work or other subject-matter in which copyright subsists and for the individual � or, with the individual�s authorization, a member of their household � to use the new work or other subject-matter or to authorize an intermediary to disseminate it, if

(a) the use of, or the authorization to disseminate, the new work or other subject-matter is done solely for non-commercial purposes;

(b) the source � and, if given in the source, the name of the author, performer, maker or broadcaster � of the existing work or other subject-matter or copy of it are mentioned, if it is reasonable in the circumstances to do so;

(c) the individual had reasonable grounds to believe that the existing work or other subject-matter or copy of it, as the case may be, was not infringing copyright; and

(d) the use of, or the authorization to disseminate, the new work or other subject-matter does not have a substantial adverse effect, financial or otherwise, on the exploitation or potential exploitation of the existing work or other subject-matter � or copy of it � or on an existing or potential market for it, including that the new work or other subject-matter is not a substitute for the existing one."

Link: bit.ly/1lbbN7d

I've heard some talk about how this could apply to "fan art", cover songs and other non-commercial use - and there's a chance the video might be permitted under this clause.
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d.free, 13 May 2014 @ 2:20pm

Sorry, my link didn't work. Here it is.

http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-42/page-19.html#docCont
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jackn, 13 May 2014 @ 2:44pm

Hi Guys, get ready.........

I think this should be fair use.
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Jernau (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 3:04pm

Thanks for the link and heads-up, Mike
I avoid YouTube and this is the first time I've seen the video. It gave me goosebumps. Downloaded, backed up and tucked away 'for the children', 'because copyright'.

Thank you, too, to Commander Hadfield and everyone else involved.
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Anonymous, 13 May 2014 @ 3:25pm

No content found online ever truly "goes away". If even one person has downloaded it, he can upload it. Others can download it, re-upload it, spread it around the entire world.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 3:47pm

Re: Re:
Yawn.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 4:14pm

Re: Re: Re:
It's up to you to take the "hip" out of censorship.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 4:15pm

Re: Re: Download Hadfield's Major Tom
Is Youtube taking down the page, or just replacing the video with a "no longer available" notice?

I'm hoping the second.
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tracyanne (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 4:25pm

I've just downloaded it
to save it for prosterity.
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Anonymous, 13 May 2014 @ 4:48pm

Re: Re: Re: Re:
And then we can take care of the "censors"!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 5:52pm

Re: Re:
Whine, whine, whiney whiney whine.

Fuck's sake, average_joe, stop using your wife's laptop. It's not clever.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 May 2014 @ 6:36pm

Hadfield "owns" the rights
Licensing is an obsolete concept.
Hadfield owns the rights to the "licensed" version of Bowie's work appearing in Hadfield's work.
Hadfield can grant permissions on this "version" to others.
Any contract to the contrary is preempted by federal copyright law.

Compare to Library of Congress' posted rules for reproducing prints and photographs:

What About Copying One of P&P's Images from a Book or Other Published Source?

If you are planning to copy and publish an image from a copyrighted, published source (e.g., a book), you should check with the publisher, since technically it owns the rights to the version appearing in the book--though few publishers realize that or seem to wish to control such copying.
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Meepsheep, 13 May 2014 @ 6:47pm

"muh freedoms"
So what you're trying to imply is that, because this guy went to space, he should have exemption from the law?
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The Wanderer (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 8:01pm

Re: Copyright
My own idea - partly out of an impression that there are some cases where a longer copyright can make sense, and partly as a form of compromise - is something like as follows:

* Initial copyright is automatic, without requiring registration or indeed any action, and lasts for a term of eight years.

* At the end of the eight years, the term can be renewed for another eight, by A: filing a properly reproducible copy of the thing covered by the copyright with some appropriate central archive, and B: paying either $1000 or 1% of gross revenues attributable to the control of the copyright over the preceding year, whichever is greater. (In effect, renewal requires registration.)

* This renewal can be repeated every eight years, up to seven times, for a maximum copyright term length of 64 years.

This seems to provide "something for everyone". Under this model:

Copyright does not require registration, so even the small guys get copyright protection without need for paperwork et cetera - but renewal does, so we stop losing old works because no usable copy exists by the time the copyright expires.

The initial term is short enough that if no one cares the work will enter the public domain fairly quickly - but the maximum term is long enough to allow extensive exploitation of a work that turns out to be especially valuable.

The maximum term is short enough that people can reasonably expect to see anything created during their youth enter the public domain during their lifetime.
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Sheogorath (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 8:08pm

Re: Commander Hadfield's Amazing Cover Of David Bowie's Space Oddity Disappears Today
Actually, Tim's rubbing off on me, then we're off to visit Chatsworth House after that.
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Sheogorath (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 8:10pm

Re: Re: Copyright
Stupid idea. How are individuals supposed to renew a copyright? Make the fee more nominal, something like $50.
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Watchit (profile), 13 May 2014 @ 8:54pm

Re: "muh freedoms"
Freedom for the spacenoids!

Seig Zeon! Seig Zeon!
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Rekrul, 13 May 2014 @ 9:29pm

It's still up on Vimeo and you can use various methods to download a permanent copy of it, like Flashgot or Download Helper for Firefox, Internet Download Manager, etc.
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PaulT (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 12:12am

Re: Re:
How can you still be ignorant both about how this site works and what censorship is?
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2014 @ 12:53am

Re: Re: Re: Copyright
That would defeat the object of the proposals, as companies could afford to pay a nominal fee to keep a work off of the market and out of the public domain.
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cantor (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 1:28am

Re: #6
Even more interesting are various instances when Americans (or US gov) try to apply US law to other countries...
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The Wanderer (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 5:03am

Re: Re: Re: Copyright
$1000 is low enough that an individual who truly values the (control represented by the) copyright should be able to afford it once every 8 years. If the individual does not value the copyright that much, then the work should enter the public domain.

I wouldn't be entirely opposed to setting it lower, but I'm concerned that if it's too low, large holders of many copyrights might choose to continue paying the fee just to retain control even if they have no intention of exploiting the copyright - i.e., that they might keep the copyrighted work locked up for as long as they can, rather than making it available as soon as they no longer need it.

I'll admit that some index value should be used instead of an explicit dollar figure, to avoid having it become trivial over time because of inflation. I haven't got a good idea in mind for that, though.
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The Wanderer (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 5:06am

Re:
I saw this article with less than two hours to go last night, and immediately made a point to grab a copy of the video using cclive, just to make sure that if nothing else I'd still have access to it if I ever want it.

I've seen it a few times, and it never really grabbed me as "great", although I agree it's good. It's definitely a work of art, however, which should not be lost - and even disregarding that, just on sheer principle it's inappropriate to lock up something that's been (legitimately and) freely available like this.
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Pragmatic, 14 May 2014 @ 6:09am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Copyright
This is well worth a longer discussion, The Wanderer. I'd be more in favor of a ten year term to start with, but I'd limit renewal to three terms at the most, otherwise we'd end up with extensions, exceptions, and all kinds of crap.

The first and most important thing to do is get the idea of effort + output = property away from copyright. That's at the root of all this.
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Pragmatic, 14 May 2014 @ 6:12am

Re:
Y-y-you read the link I sent you yesterday. *Faints*
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JCHP, 14 May 2014 @ 7:14am

And an opportunity wasted
See, this is where a savvy guy would just walk up to Bowie and tell him:
"How about we make the best of this. Let's make a new, pay-what-you-want album after asking people all over the Internet to remix Space Oddity and picking the best. Heck, let's have you do a duet with Col. Hadfield and have THAT be the centerpiece of the album. For bonus e-cookies, let's donate as much of the cash as we can to a charity picked by NASA and let's allow people to pay in Dogecoin. Bowie, let's make a piece of history."

This, gentlemen, is how you make money. Not that I expect anyone at the RIAA-affiliated companies to even remotely see these sorts of opportunities as positive.
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Gwiz (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 8:25am

Re:
I think this should be fair use.

Would you feel the same way if it was Richard Branson doing the same thing from a Virgin Galactic commercial flight?

Just curious.
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PaulT (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 8:39am

Re: Re:
Can't answer for jackn, but I would personally, if the footage was taken and used in the same way. A commercial obviously and specifically shot to promote Virgin Galactic flights would be questionable, but all being equal the identity of the person and the ownership of the flight shouldn't make any difference.

It might be difficult to complete distinguish between a commercial and a genuinely viral video, of course, but I would err on the side of fair use. If Bowie complained and felt that the video was not fair use, then a court should decide.
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jackn, 14 May 2014 @ 8:43am

Re: Re:
Can't say until it happens. It would depend on the purpose and charactor of the work.
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jackn, 14 May 2014 @ 8:44am

Re: "muh freedoms"
what law?
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John Fenderson (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 9:15am

Re: Re: Download Hadfield's Major Tom
Wait a second... YouTube comments that are worth preserving?? Has the world gone insane?
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John Fenderson (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 9:17am

Re: Re: Copyright
"Initial copyright is automatic, without requiring registration or indeed any action, and lasts for a term of eight years"

No no no.

Automatic copyright is one of the worst things about copyright law today. Require registration (at no charge would be fine) so that we can at least have a record of who owns the copyrights.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2014 @ 9:20am

Re: Download Hadfield's Major Tom
Or just use youtube-dl
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John Fenderson (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 9:20am

Re: Re: Also available by torrent.
This.

I once wanted to put a (30 year old) song on a website I ran. I contacted the members of the (now defunct) band to see if I could get their permission to do so. Their response was: we have no say in this, the copyright is owned by the label. But, informally, they'd be very happy if I put the song up. Which I did.
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Allen (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 10:10am

Another copyright SNAFU, but
Does anyone else think designating sections of a space craft as territory where one nation's or another's laws apply is absurd? I have visions of a TSA check point at the US airlock to keep the Russians out because, you know, Snowden. And is there something I should know about Astronauts that someone felt it necessary to consider the need to attach a jurisdiction to any part of the space station in the first place? It does my head in, it does.
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Mark Noo, 14 May 2014 @ 11:48am

I want compensation for people effort
People should be compensated for their artistic endeavors. Fiction writers, musicians, sculptors, etc.
Our copyright laws are nearly impossible to administer. Everything from singing Happy Birthday to forwarding an email may be an infringement problem. Social media infringement alone could supply with lawsuits for a very, very long time.

I do not think the artists are the problem very often. I think it is the labels and studios for the most part who feel they need to be paid for everything.

Greed notwithstanding, the labels and studios have a legal responsibility to maximize shareholder wealth. Giving things away that could be charged for does not maximize shareholder weatlh.

Capitalism and the rules that guard it have some ethical problems. Captitalism is not the problem, it is the way we have implemented it that is. How do we repair a system that is basically fair but does not reconcile with our values. That is what is at issue: our values are not reflected in our copyright laws.

Additional:
One of the biggest problem to reconciling the two is equal protection. If it is OK for one person but not OK for another, or if it is OK this time, but not OK that time, how do we make sure that essential function of equally applied laws is not diminished.
If the courts just look at the norms and values of the people in its jurisdiction than any financial incentive for artistic works will be serverely hurt. We will be sharing everything. If you make something worthwhile and are compensated for it you are likely to do it again. And if the compensation is adequate you may stop creating your art in your spare time and work on it all day instead. Thus producing more useful things.
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Sancho (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 12:55pm

Re: 29.21
I thought about this too. The law is so new that it hasn't been tested yet, but many suspect that the right is available only to individuals, not to groups. Unless Col. Hadfield made this video all by himself, he is likely not covered by this exception.

www.lawyersweekly.ca/index.php?section=article&articleid=2028
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That One Guy (profile), 14 May 2014 @ 3:35pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Copyright
Thing is, $1000 is trivial for a company. That's such a low amount they wouldn't even think twice about paying it out, so every copyright they owned would always last the maximum amount of time you suggest(which I'd also argue is far too long, I'd be more in favor of the original 14+14, at most).

However, $1000 for your standard person? Over the course of 8 years, yeah, that's fairly small spread out, but in a lump sum, that's a pretty large expense to dump on someone.

The problem with such a fee system as 'incentive' to let something enter the public domain, is that any fee amount high enough that a company would actually be forced to think about the pro's vs con's of letting something go, is also going to be so insanely high that your average creator isn't going to be able to pay it.

Conversely, any fee amount low enough that your standard individual creator would be able to reasonably afford, is going to be so low that a company wouldn't even think twice about paying it to maintain ownership rights over a copyright.

Now, some sort of 'incentive' system, to give copyright owners a reason to release things into the public domain, or, more accurately, a reason not to just automatically keep renewing(under a renewal system of course), is certainly worth considering, but I don't think a flat fee is the answer, though the percentage idea you also mentioned could be viable.
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Anonymous Anonymous Coward, 14 May 2014 @ 5:25pm

Re: Re: Re: Also available by torrent.
John...you pirate! :)
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Major Tom, 10 Aug 2015 @ 4:43am

2015 and the video remains
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