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Philip McGrath

@TheRealPomax @Viss @molly0xfff But 4′33″ isn’t just silence! For one thing, it’s divided into three movements, which performers must communicate somehow. At a deeper level, 4′33″ is about the *impossibility* of silence.

(Also, the usual score specified that 4′33″ may “last any length of time.” Any attempt to raise a copyright issue would run into the compulsory license for music recordings, for one thing.)

30 September at 20:16 | Wall-to-wall | Open on mastodon.social
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Pomax

@LiberalArtist @Viss @molly0xfff Copyright doesn't care about the underlying intent, only whether the work will reasonably be assumed to "be" another work. It's why derivative works can still be copyright violation.

And yes, that's idiotic. It'd be lovely if we could abolish all the nonsense around modern copyright law.

30 September at 20:24 | Open on mastodon.social
Philip McGrath

@TheRealPomax @Viss @molly0xfff But a “silent” performance in one movement, or four movements, would clearly not be 4′33″, not would a digital audio file consisting of a flat line be a recording of it.

With my musicologist hat on, I do agree that copyright law is often ontologically incoherent. Even so, 4′33″ is specific piece of music—one I deeply love—not a catch-all for silence. It was neither the first nor the last piece of “silent” music: see e.g. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o

@TheRealPomax @Viss @molly0xfff But a “silent” performance in one movement, or four movements, would clearly not be 4′33″, not would a digital audio file consisting of a flat line be a recording of it.

With my musicologist hat on, I do agree that copyright law is often ontologically incoherent. Even so, 4′33″ is specific piece of music—one I deeply love—not a catch-all for silence. It was neither the first nor the last piece of “silent” music: see e.g. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o

30 September at 20:36 | Open on mastodon.social
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