Supreme Court Underscores How Fair Use Promotes Creativity. Contrary to what some rightsholders claim, fair use actually promotes creativity, as Jonathan Band explains in his latest Project Disco blog on the Supreme Court’s ruling in the Google v Oracle fair use case. Band points to Justice Breyer’s comments that fair use is an “‘equitable rule of reason’ that ‘permits courts to avoid rigid application of the copyright statute when, on occasion, it would stifle the very creativity which the law is designed to foster.’”
Venture Capitalists Investing In Creator Economy Startups. Examining how venture capitalists are “plowing” money into creator economy startups, Axios highlights recent announcements from Patreon, Clubhouse and several other companies that all help content creators directly monetize their work: “The more money that goes in, the more that may go out to creators.”
Unique TikTok Stars Bring Attention To Museums During Pandemic. Two unlikely TikTok stars are uplifting museums in a creative way and have grabbed the attention of millions by using DMCA-backed platforms. Howard Hatch has operated an antique printing press at the Sacramento History Museum for 22 years and began creating TikTok videos explaining how printing presses work. Today, the museum’s account has twice as many followers as the population of Sacramento. Meanwhile, Tim Pearce, a mollusk expert from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh began starring in TikTok videos in early 2020 and now has a cult-like following on the app. Pearce keeps viewers laughing and is helping the museum stay relevant during the pandemic.
Patreon CEO Breaks Down The Creative Economy Renaissance. Following Patreon’s recent valuation jump to $4 billion, Co-Founder and CEO Jack Conte discussed the future of the creative economy with Yahoo! Finance. “We are literally at the beginning of a new Renaissance, a world in which tens of millions of creative people are building businesses and building their dreams and making it happen. I think that’s going to make the first Renaissance feel like a blip. I mean, global arts and creativity, it’s going to be, you know, financed and celebrated to a degree that I think is very unusual and is really exciting,” said Conte.