Steve Collins

Macquarie University, Department of Media, Music, Communication & Cultural Studies, Faculty Member

Macquarie University, Interactive Media Institute, Faculty Member

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I'm a senior lecturer in the Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies at Macquarie University, Sydney. I currently teach copyright law, interactive media production and cybercultures.

My research interests include copyright, creativity, music, cybercultures and social media. I'm recently finished writing a book for Equinox Publishing on the music industries and digital ecologies.

I also produce music as INfest8 (http://www.infest8.net)
Phone: +61 2 9850 2165
Address: Y3A 191D
Macquarie University
North Ryde
NSW 2109
Australia

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Books by Steve Collins

Acting Out: Resisting copyright monopolies

Routledge Companion to Media and Activism

How should citizens respond when copyright laws overreach and grow too strict, to the point where... more How should citizens respond when copyright laws overreach and grow too strict, to the point where they stifle creativity and chill free expression? One response is to set up your own alternative system for regulating how creative works can be used. That is exactly what Lawrence Lessig, Hal Abelson and Eric Eldred did by establishing Creative Commons licensing. Creative Commons, however, is limited to the content that opts in, which for the most part is not the mainstream cultural content with which many wish to engage. Other creators and consumers rely on the increasingly marginalised doctrine of fair use to protect their rights to (re-)use creative works from the objections of copyright owners. For some the approach is more aggressive and involves purposeful infringement as an act of resistance against monopolies and unfair practices. For example, in Australia during its annual ’Game of Thrones’ season, tens of thousands of fans torrent, download and stream episodes in response to Foxtel’s monopoly over the show’s broadcast. Many fans feel that the costs involved in legitimately accessing ‘Game of Thrones’ are unfair and there are no other real-time, legal alternatives.

This chapter builds on a wealth of existing work that critiques copyright law for being too stringent and out of touch with the realities of creative practices and how digital media is used. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples I explore how resistance to copyright policy is acted out in a number of different scenarios that involve different uses of copyrighted materials. The key examples include Creative Commons, transformative appropriations that rely on the increasingly marginalised fair use defence, and purposeful infringement in resistance to perceived unfair pricing and access problems and oppressive digital practices more generally.

Off the Charts: The Implications of Incorporating Streaming Data into the Charts

by Steve Collins and Pat O'Grady

Collins and O’Grady explore the impacts of digitisation on music charts. Focusing on streaming pl... more Collins and O’Grady explore the impacts of digitisation on music charts. Focusing on streaming platforms such as Spotify, the chapter questions the continued relevance of calculating charts based on sales when consumer data offers far more nuanced information that measures popularity of music based on use. They firmly situate the current opportunities for reconfiguring charts within a history of the music industries that is characterised by transformations and continuities.

Beyond 2.0: The future of music

The music industry, as with most other media forms, is in the middle of a period of enormous tran... more The music industry, as with most other media forms, is in the middle of a period of enormous transformation. Digital technologies have empowered producers and consumers of music - traditional ways of making and distributing music are under threat as musicians and their audiences embrace new opportunities, many of which bypass the incumbent middlemen. Whilst it is clear that the music industry is thriving, the traditional recording industry, dominated by a handful of multinational corporations is struggling to stay relevant. The changes are so dramatic that the term "Music 2.0" has become commonly used to delineate old and new business models and approaches. But the demise of the traditional music industry is overstating things - the reality is that (whilst their profits may be diminishing) they still dominate a multi-billion dollar marketplace and exercise unprecedented control over the star-making process. And, of course, they have the resources to be able to reinvent themselves. The actual future of music is a complex and contested one. This book aims to unpack that complexity, map the changes and explain the causes and motivations surrounding an industry undergoing change. It explores the world of popular music from three distinct perspectives. Firstly, it examines the new opportunities available to consumers of music - interrogating how the lines between production and consumption are blurring, creating fans who do much more than just listen to music. Secondly, it draws on interviews with a diverse range of musicians explaining their place in the brave new world and trying to articulate their newly defined roles. Finally, it examines the industry itself, and unpack the responses to current challenges from new and old players alike.

Papers by Steve Collins

Rise of the Machine

Equinox Publishing, Oct 20, 2014

The Technology of Music

Equinox Publishing, Oct 20, 2014

A View from the Trenches of Music 2.0

Popular Music and Society, 2010

In recent history, the music industry has been built on a small number of relationships, largely ... more In recent history, the music industry has been built on a small number of relationships, largely driven from the top down. While the actual music forges a direct link between musicians and their fans, the reality of the industry is that a number of intermediaries interrupt that relationship, forcing musicians to communicate through their management companies and record labels. The promise of the new technologies is to reconfigure the possibilities, allowing the emergence of new relationships. The communication and distribution potential of the Internet (which can be encapsulated as Music 2.0) suggests that disintermediation and reconfigured relationships are possible. But what is the reality of this promise? In the context of a broader global experience, this paper draws on primary research consisting of interviews with a range of Australian musicians to explore how they may be forging new networks of opportunity, and how realistic the promise of Music 2.0 might be.

Beyond 2.0: The Future of Music

Introduction 1. The Technology of Music 2. Rise of the Machine 3. Digital Music 4. The New Interm... more

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“They’re creepy and they’re kooky” and they’re copyrighted: How copyright is used to dampen the (re-)imagination.

The mediascape abounds with examples of re-imaginings, works that re-interpret existing media tex... more The mediascape abounds with examples of re-imaginings, works that re-interpret existing media texts (many of which have been the focus of lawsuits). Alice Randall’s The Wind Done Gone (2001), re-imagines the narrative of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With The Wind (1936) to tell the story from the perspective of Cynara, one of Scarlett O’Hara’s slaves. Gregg Gillis, a.k.a. Girl Talk, re-imagines the music of the ‘Top 40’ bringing together Elton John and Notorious B.I.G. on ‘Smash Your Head’ (2006). Dream Country (1991), the third Sandman graphic novel, sees author Neil Gaiman re-imagine A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a creative partnership between Shakespeare and Dream (a cosmic entity charged with governing the realm of dreams). Media frequently builds on existing media, and in more overt cases, media is directly made from media; this is especially true of user-generated content, in which media is frequently sampled, mashed-up and remixed to shed new light and create new meaning. The freedom to re-imagine media texts, however, is problematised by copyright law, which confers exclusive rights to make copies and derivatives. That contemporary copyright laws can stifle creativity and innovation is a mantra that was repeated throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s by proponents of the free culture movement such as Lawrence Lessig, Siva Vaidyanathan and Kembrew McLeod. This paper questions whether these critiques are still valid through the deployment of recent examples including Robin Thicke’s ‘Blurred Lines’ and Melissa Hunter’s web series, ‘Adult Wednesday Addams’. There is a focus herein on the copyright regime of the US as many of the key global players in the content industries are based there, a factor that exerts considerable influence over how the rest of the world can interact (or not) with copyrighted works.

Technologically Mediated Transparency in Music Production

by Steve Collins and Adrian Renzo

This paper argues that several recent developments in popular music make the artist’s production ... more This paper argues that several recent developments in popular music make the artist’s production process more transparent to listeners. By using loop pedals, by releasing the recorded stems of songs, or by uploading performative instructional videos on YouTube, producers ‘reveal’ techniques used during the production process. Such revelations partly deconstruct earlier concerns from rock fans regarding the (lack of) authenticity of particular musics. Furthermore, we argue that these developments have a history in earlier forms of popular music, such as the “extended version” of 12-inch singles from the 1970s and 1980s. Here, songs were frequently stripped down to their core, making specific parts (and, by extension, specific arrangement techniques) more accessible to listeners

Book Review: The Digital Rights Movement: the role of technology in subverting digital copyright

Information Communication Society, Jun 2013

YouTube and limitations of fair use in remix videos

Journal of Media Practice, Nov 11, 2014

“[W]hen a population bombarded with electronic media meets the hardware that encourages them to c... more “[W]hen a population bombarded with electronic media meets the hardware that encourages them to capture it” free appropriation and remixes of copyrighted materials are inevitable (Negativland 1995: 251). Jonathan McIntosh’s video “Buffy vs. Edward: Twilight Remixed” is a prime example of Negativland’s assertion. Remixes, however, can be contested productions, drawing out tensions between US copyright law and the so-called “remix society” (Diakopoulos et al 2007; Ferguson 2012; Lessig 2008). Using McIntosh’s video as a case study this paper looks at the practice of remixing through the prism of fair use and calls for a broader implementation of the doctrine that enables free and creative cultural production as essential components of a democratic civil society (Netanel 1996: 21).

Termination Rights

In 2013 the first wave of termination rights under American copyright law become available to mus... more In 2013 the first wave of termination rights under American copyright law become available to musicians who have assigned copyrights to recording labels. The reclamation of copyrights threatens an industry already reeling from a difficult transition into the digital era. This paper investigates the potential impacts of and reactions to termination rights on an industry predicated on the acquisition and exploitation of copyrights.

format_quoteRights reversion poses a critical threat to the recording industry's income as original rights owners explore new distribution options post-2013.format_quote

Zoning Laws: Facebook and Google+

M/C Journal, Oct 2011

Digital Fair: Prosumption and the fair use defence

Journal of Consumer Culture, Mar 2010

The key element of Web 2.0 is what O’Reilly refers to as an ‘architecture of participation’. Tagl... more The key element of Web 2.0 is what O’Reilly refers to as an ‘architecture of participation’. Taglines such as YouTube’s ‘broadcast yourself ’ and Lulu’s ‘publish your words, your art — for fun or profit’ point to the creative empowerment that has accompanied the mass adoption of digital technologies and the rise of Web 2.0 applications. Combined with the ‘rip, mix and burn’ nature of digital technologies, the Web has rapidly become a locus for user-created content, much of which copies, appropriates and mashes up copyrighted materials. The invitation to engage with the media-saturated environment has led to a proliferation of prosumerism through which many consumers have become producers of content. Appropriation and redeployment of copyrighted materials in the prosumption arena has drawn creators and right holders into conflict. Copyright owners seek to maintain control over information flows, whilst prosumers make (what they consider to be) fair uses of elements harvested from the media-saturated environment. This article is concerned with these tensions that — whilst not new — have been exacerbated by Web 2.0. Specifically, this article addresses the issue of fairness (in the context of the US fair use doctrine) in the digital age and questions whether powerful cultural forces require a reconfiguration of copyright law. Fairness is an elusive concept; in the realm of copyright, an act may simultaneously be decried as piracy and defended as a fair use. Web 2.0 has fostered a growing prosumer culture that freely appropriates from media sources to give effect to new works, and this article questions whether the customary practices of this emergent culture should impact upon the legal construction of fairness.

A View from the Trenches of Music 2.0

by Steve Collins and Sherman Young

Popular Music and Society, 2010

Kookaburra v. Down Under: It's just overkill

Scan Journal of Media Arts Culture, Apr 2010

Recovering Fair Use

M/C Journal, Dec 2008

Waveform Pirates: Sampling, Piracy and Musical Creativity

Journal on the Art of Record Production, Nov 2008

Amen to That: Sampling and Adapting the Past

M/C Journal, May 2007

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