Harvard’s Derek Miller explains how copyright affects creativity
Derek Miller is the John L. Loeb Associate Professor of the Humanities in the English Department, where he studies links among the performing arts, economics, and law. “Copyright and the Value of Performance, 1770‒1911,” his first book, examines the origins and history of U.S. performance rights. The book was published in August, two months before President Trump signed into law the Music Modernization Act, which updated antiquated rules to pay artists more in the age of streaming. Q&A Derek Miller GAZETTE: Why does a non-lawyer care about copyright law? miller: I was struck by some intersections between theories of theater and music in the 19th century and lawsuits I’d stumbled upon in some research I was doing. The questions the lawyers were trying to think through — what theater and music were — were similar to arguments artists and composers and critics were having about the value of their work. It struck me very hard...