Congress Resolves To Create Stronger Copyright Laws In Honor Of Famous DJ Who Won First 'Remix' Grammy

from the missing-the-point-by-a-wide-wide-margin dept

Via Parker Higgins, we learn that Congressional Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee submitted a House Resolution honoring Frankie Knuckles, the pioneering House DJ (and, here, we no longer mean "House of Representatives") who passed away last year. Such resolutions are pretty typical and a nice honor, if fairly meaningless overall. Still, it seems somewhat bizarre that in a resolution honoring Knuckles, who won the first ever "Remixer of the Year" Grammy back in 1998, that Jackson-Lee used it as a reason to argue for stronger copyright protections:

Resolved, That the House of Representatives—

(1) applauds the contributions made by the House music genre and artists such as Frankie Knuckles to the culture of the United States;

(2) supports the designation of a national day of recognition for Chicago House music pioneer Frankie Knuckles;

(3) recommits itself to ensuring that musical artists such as Frankie Knuckles receive fair protection under the copyright laws of the United States;

(4) endeavors to support the protection of House music artists’ content globally; and

(5) directs the Clerk of the House of Representatives to transmit enrolled copies of this resolution to Frankie Knuckles, or his assignee.

One might argue that when she says "fair protection under copyright laws" she means stronger fair use protections enabling people like Knuckles to more easily remix the works of others into wonderful new works, without needing permission or licenses -- but that seems... unlikely. Either way, it seems fairly bizarre that you'd use someone who revolutionized an entire area of music through remixing others' works in new and creative ways as an example for the need for "copyright protection."

Filed Under: congress, copyright, frankie knuckles, house music, remix, sheila jackson-lee