Copyright Curriculum – Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA)
Location: http://www.riaa.com/toolsforparents.php?content_selector=tools_
pe_educators
Target Audience: Grade 3 through college (Different programs target different age groups)
Normative Values: The RIAA is the trade group representing the recording industry in the U.S. Member record companies generate more than 90% of legitimately distributed recordings. The RIAA aims to sustain a business and legal landscape that enhances the creative and financial viability of its members. In pursuit of such objectives, it takes a strong stance against piracy, utilizing a “multi-faceted approach” to combat its effect on the industry. The group has initiated numerous lawsuits against file-sharing service providers and individual users, alike, in its efforts to curb unauthorized downloading. Through a combination of education, innovation and, as noted above, enforcement, the RIAA seeks to ensure the continued viability of the recording industry in a digital world.
Information Presented: Four separate programs comprise the RIAA’s educational initiative. Each emphasizes informing young Internet users of existing copyright laws and equipping them to act responsibly on that knowledge.
Music Rules! (www.music-rules.com): The Music Rules! website offers free PDF materials for both educators and parents. Teachers may also fill out a form requesting hard copies of the resources provided. Each of the four lessons contains is subdivided into material appropriate for students in grades 3 through 5, and activities adapted for use at the middle school level. In general, both levels provide the same information. The middle school materials tend to expound upon the ideas presented through more in-depth activities.
Teachers Guide: The Teacher’s Guide introduces the program, explains how to access the online materials, introduces key terms used in the materials, and provides instructions for each of the four lessons. A list of additional online resources is also provided.
Classroom Materials: Both the elementary and middle school level materials are divided into four activities: Music Rules!, Meet the Music Makers, It’s the Law, and Make Your Own Music. A separate worksheet combining information with activities to complete accompanies each lesson. The topics covered at the elementary and middle school levels are identical. However, middle school students are given slightly more involved assignments, and are encouraged to use technology in the course of the program. The same graphics and examples appear on both sets of worksheets.
Classroom Poster: Proclaiming “True Music Fans Play by the Rules!” the full color poster, downloadable from the website, stresses key points covered in the lessons.
Parent Brochure: The curriculum includes a brochure for students to take home to their parents, describing the Music Rules! program. The pamphlet provides the family with an Internet Safety Checklist as well as answers to common questions concerning copyright. Although the materials do address general Internet safety, music piracy remains the focus of the prescribed rules. The Questions About Copyright section of the materials gives a basic outline of what one can and cannot legally do with digital music.
Assemblies and Online Curriculum (Grades 3-12)
I-Safe’s Beat Street assemblies: These programs introduce third and fourth graders to basic copyright concepts and vocabulary. Videos and interactive skits are used to engage students in how one’s responsibilities as a citizen of the physical world translate into the online community. The assemblies contain 30-45 minutes of material.
Music Rules: Learn Before U Burn Experience: The presentation targets fifth through twelfth graders. Students are instructed how to make responsible choices regarding the use of digital media. The program includes both recorded and interactive components, and is 60 minutes in duration.
Students and parents are directed to www.isafe.org, which offers additional educational materials for order.
Face the Music: Copyright, Art and the Digital Age (High School)
Face the Music, A program developed by The Close Up Foundation, strives to initiate classroom conversation on intellectual property issues. Students take a Constitution-based approach to understanding the copyright framework, and how existing law applies in the digital world. Employing readings, videos and additional materials, the program is touted as an “appealing introduction” to the intersection of music, the Internet, and copyright. Educators are directed to www.closeup.org where they can register their school in order to access online materials.
Video for University Students (College)
The RIAA, in connection with EDUCAUSE and the American Council on Education, has developed an 8-minture video on the potential consequences of illegal file sharing. The short film features a University of North Carolina student who was penalized with six months home confinement after being prosecuted for music piracy. The video may be downloaded for free at www.campusdownloading.com.
Strongest Part: The various activities connect ideas of copyright protection to real world examples and explanations. Younger students are introduced to the multiple players that work to release and benefit from the legitimate sales of successful albums. This puts a concrete, human face on what would otherwise be intangible topics to elementary and middle school-aged kids. Encouraging them to create their own creative work – and ensuring them of its protected status – also aids them in understanding why a creator might want to protect the art he produces.
Weakest Part: The RIAA materials dwell on the illegality and potential ramifications of unauthorized file sharing. To the educated reader, the materials sound too propaganda-like to be taken seriously, a factor that may deter older students from giving them due consideration. At the middle and high school levels where the materials do not appear to be adequately complex, the lessons may come across as patronizing.
Suggested Improvements:
1. A more complete picture of the copyright regime needs to be presented. Older students likely will recognize the materials’ one-sided view, and remain skeptical of its assertions. Discussing concepts such as fair use that push back against the rules espoused would be a better means of encouraging respect for those protections that do exist. Older students will be more willing to consider a view that effectively addresses alternative arguments.
2. While perhaps appropriate at the elementary level, the Music Rules! materials need to be more complex at the middle school level. Eighth graders are not going to take curriculum that asks them to create an imaginary class record company for recording and distributing anti-piracy songs very seriously. Middles school students should be provided with additional “real world” examples, as this is the age at which most kids will begin to download material on their own.
3. Students rarely pay attention to either videos or school assemblies, as both are viewed as “free time” away from classroom instruction. Using more interactive rather than passive instruction methods would better command attention.
1. Technology could be better implemented into the curriculum. The middle school Music Rules! materials do have students make a “computer presentation” of what they have learned and encourage additional online research, but it seems that Internet resources could be more directly utilized. After all, this is a program educating kids on digital music. Perhaps an online interactive tutorial could be implemented to introduce students to the types of sites and file-sharing programs that violate copyright laws while alerting them to legal ways to access music through the Internet.
2. While including testimony from a college student who was prosecuted for file sharing may be influential, having musicians and industry professionals speak on the state of digital music would also be beneficial. Many will view legal prosecution with a “that won’t happen to me” attitude. Hearing the reasoning of the creators themselves would better encourage respect for copyrighted works.
3. Scenarios depicting use that is permitted could be added to the Music Rules! worksheets so that students have a better sense of what they can do with digital music, rather than just specific instances where copying and sharing violate the law.
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