Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2

by Negativland, Francis Gary Powers (Foreword by)

Explores Negativland’s legal, ethical, and artistic odyssey in an unusual examination of the ironic absurdities that ensue when corporate commerce, contemporary art and pre-electronic law collide over one 13-minute recording.

Genres: Music, Politics, Cultural

270 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Laura Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the points that often gets overlooked in discussions of copyright as an abstract legal theory is that most of the time the parties in a dispute are not equally financially matched. As in many legal settings, the question of who is right is not really the deciding factor. The law may assume that both parties are equal and that they both have the same opportunity to make their cases. The huge costs of litigation, however, mean that a Negativeland has no hope of making a case against an Island Records. A corporation can force an individual artist out of the game well before he has an opportunity to make his case for fair use. As the band wrote, "The creative freedoms promised by the Fair Use principle... are practically moot due to the financial cost of securing them in court... The practical effect of present copyright law is to reserve these creative practices for only the wealthy and the flattering."
The book, by giving a blow by blow recap of one bands struggle to avoid lawsuits and gain the right to keep a parody record that included samples on the market, shows rather than tells.

I had heard of this book for some time and chased it down. It was not as entertaining or charmingly surreal as I had hoped. For anyone who has been involved in any sort of intellectual property litigation or contracting the back and forth is about what you'd expect. I have no idea what the recording sounded like that was at the center of all of this fuss. I'm guessing I would not have considered it a great work of art, but I don't know, and that is not the point anyway.

The band's original cover design, I have to say, did produce a likelihood of confusion with U2s upcoming new album release and Island was justified in trying to get it off the market, and chances are in a different package none of the fight over the records contents would have come up. They, of course, immediately filed a lawsuit rather than sending a letter and asking for a change, but then that's what you do when you have a bunch of lawyers on retainer. As corporations-- and anyone who gets into the fight of litigation for that matter-- are apt to do, they were heavy handed and overreached. (Once the lawyers get involved and the tempers flare it is really hard to resist that impulse to say, "And another thing...")

The book does provide an illustration that highlights that something is a bit broken in how we try to compensate artists, protect the integrity of their work, and allow for the creation of new works derived from our shared cultural inheritance. It does not offer many detailed solutions, but there are other books to do that.

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The loudspeaker spoke up and said.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thrilling account of Negativland vs U2/Island Records and a dissection of copyright law through sourced documents (court records, faxes, magazine columns, interviews), and an awesome appendix that includes the story of John Oswald's plunderphonics album (and a sideline history of hip hop and sampling through inclusion in various court documents!). So much good stuff in here.

Nice to see that Negativland maintained an awesome sense of humor throughout the entire affair, while finding nothing but frustration in their battle against corporate greed (and indie greed) and control of artists and image and money.

[Baal Of · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, thorough historical documentation of Negativland's battle against heavy-handed corporate control over public images. It contains lots of legal documents, so some of reading can be a bit dense, but it's well worth the work for anyone interested in the battle between copyright and fair use.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Art does not come to us as one "original" idea after another. The law must educate itself to the fact that ever since monkeys saw and did, the entire history of all art forms has been BASED ON THEFT-in the most useful sense of that word."

[Johnny · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Copyright infringement is your best entertainment value."

[Matteo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The California band Negativland were trying to make art, and they confronted the naked aggression that is intellectual property rights law - by sampling a song by the band U2.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extremely odd and delightful. It's kind of not about copyright at all, in that you can know nothing about copyright (and really not care much about copyright) and find it entirely interesting and approachable (and occasionally hilarious). And yet copyright runs through it. Short summary: band (Negativland) and their label get sued by U2's record label for a single they put out; settlement locks up the track. Negativland releases magazine about the whole episode, including interviews, court filings, plus press releases from themselves and their label. THEN their (now former) label sues Negativeland over the magazine. This book is the magazine, plus a second half covering that second suit.
I always wish I had primary sources like the complaints filed and the letters sent back and forth, and this is basically nothing BUT a collection of those things, with no later commentary, just the *contemporaneous* commentary from those documents. It should feel like a scrapbook, but it works shockingly well as a narrative.

[Smiley III · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the story of how everyone got mad at everyone — because of an Athens, GA Warners executive.

Greg Ginn gets mad, U2 can't do anything, Chris Matthews can't do anything, Brian Eno says, "don't blame the band — they haven't lost their sense of humor," and everyone wants to believe him, everyone but Daniel Lanois and Flood and Steve Lillywhite wants to weigh in and say the band thought it was pretty funny ... but they can't reel in the legal fees for the outlay because of an Athens, GA Warners executive!!!

Why did someone espy the 1 of 9,000 copies pressed (it was low on the radar — for real 🙄 ) at an Athens, GA record shop and then go clamoring over to a Warner Bros. executive like it was something to worry about??

Why is this the single FACT — blink and you miss it — in the WHOLE THING that ties this thing together, front cover, pages and all ... ?? 🤔

Geez, maybe it was someone from the B-52's or Pylon — no, wait, maybe it was that other band based in Athens, GA ...

#badBLOOD

#POSEURS

🙄

#CHRIST

[Asal Sepassi · Rating 4 out of 5]

So good! A trip back to the early 90s when people wrote open letters and faxes. Negativland makes a very goofy recording using U2, Casey Kasem and kazoo recordings- then the courts get involved. Also the guy from black flag.

Very lovely. More than a little heartbreaking at times. Great read for lovers of audacity.

[laika]

another one of my procrastination reads (i should really finish against the day soon!)
somehow spellbinding and whipsmart in spite of the fact that it is almost entirely composed of pre-existing material (newspaper clippings, faxes, press releases, etc.)
a must-read for anyone even a little interested in fair use and plunderphonics.

[jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

the story behing the story of appropriation, fair use, and copyright law. negativland was sued by island records in 1992, not for re-purposing parts of the song Where the Streets Have No Name, but for releasing an album with a U2 spyplane over the name negativland.. and island records argued that U2 fans would be CONFUSED and it was a misuse of their image and intellectual property. big business sucks. mark hosler and crew get them back good in this tell-all.

[Aaron the Pink Donut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and entertaining. A god introduction to the issues of copyright.