Girl Talk v. Copyright Law

Gillis has stated that he does not get any copyright permission from the artists that he samples, yet as of an interview on http://www.techdirt.com/ on May 15, 2009, he also has yet to be sued for copyright infringement. He has, however, been used as an example in Congress as to why the traditional copyright laws need to change with the times. While Girl Talk has yet to be threatened with a lawsuit, his album “Night Ripper” was removed from iTunes and eMusic and according to Nielsen SoundScan, had sold 20,000 copies prior to the removal. His most recent album, Feed The Animals, was available as a pay what you want download through his Myspace page.

Girl Talk has acquired an important ally recently. Representative Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania (Gillis’ home state) has spoken publicly in support of Girl Talk’s work. In the New York Times article “Steal This Hook? Girl Talk Flouts Copyright Law” Doyle is quoted as saying “You have to look at the length of those samples… Case law gets built as cases are brought to court, and I think that more case law is going to fall on his side as this becomes more mainstream.” This supports the important point that digital technology and media editing technology is becoming more mainstream. The current copyright law as it stands hinders this mash-up culture. The article Girl Talk, Interrupted, from CampusProgress.com quotes Doyle as saying that “mash-ups are transformative new art that expands the listener’s experience… You can’t watch him perform and deny the fact that he’s creating something new and different out of the samples stored on his computer.”