Lift Evr'y Voice and Sing: Tracing the Legacy of Appropriation of Black Artists Under U.S. Copyright Law

Abstract

This note will trace the lineage of the structural inequities of copyright law that have generationally impacted Black musicians across genres, arriving to modern day issues and the technological advances that inflame these very inequities. While beginning with a conveyance of the statutory provisions that aided in unequal treatment of Black artists under copyright law is crucial, the focus of analysis and critique will center on copyright law’s development of the compulsory licensing scheme and its unique impact on Black artists by questioning the efficacy of the existing licensing structure. Parts I and II will look at the earliest iterations of the Copyright Act: from 1790 to 1909 and the legal status of Black Americans through a series of case studies looking at the Act’s effect on Black artists during the emergence of American Popular music in jazz, blues, and rock’n’roll. Part III will examine the creation of modern copyright law against the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and the emergence of rhythm & blues and hip-hop. Part IV will argue the shortcomings of the 1976 Act and modern challenges that copyright law is unequipped to address and suggest the adoption of an institutional moral right standard for musicians under Copyright law.

The development of artificial intelligence and its ability to replicate the style of artists, alongside the growing presence of digital streaming and independent artistry reinvigorates the continued tradition of the appropriation of Black artists. The modern issues Black artists face in these realms are not occurring in a vacuum but are rather a product of a tradition of imitation, appropriation, and distortion under the copyright scheme–and is therefore pertinent to contextualize the historical treatment of African Americans under intellectual property laws to best address the continuation of these issues in a new generation of music