Author: Stephanie Holmes Didwania
Abstract: This paper uses data from an online database of music sampling to estimate the effect of copyright protection on the cumulative use of music. Using a unique panel dataset that links upstream and downstream music, I use regression analysis to examine the rates at which early twentieth-century musical works were used before and after entering the public domain over the years 1923-2013. The results suggest that copyright protection causes an upstream work to be used roughly 25 to 50 percent as often as it would if it was in the public domain after conditioning on upstream-song and downstream-year fixed effects. Placebo regressions in which the copyright expiration date is artificially shifted by two, five, and ten years yield no significant results, suggesting an immediate effect of copyright expiration on cumulative use.
Citation: Didwania, Stephanie Holmes, Copyright Protection and Cumulative Creation: Evidence from Early Twentieth Century Music (September 1, 2016).
Full text on SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2854621
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