How Playlists Broke the Internet: An Analysis of Copyright in Playlist Ownership

Authors

Tori Misrok, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law

Abstract

Part I of this Note discusses the prevailing understanding of copyright law and the Copyright Act's existing statutory scheme that governs copyright protection for artistic and creative works. This Part also explains the implications of such categorizations on how the courts deem which works are sufficiently original and creative to receive federal copyright protection. Part II delineates the history and rise of digital music streaming services and playlists and how copyright law protections may apply to them. Part III examines the application of federal copyright law to playlists. In doing so, this Part determines whether playlists are compilations and, if so, whether copyrights should be extended to playlists created on digital music streaming services. This Part argues that, to the extent that playlists meet the requisite standards of originality and creativity under federal law, copyright protection should follow. Part IV proposes a comment to the Copyright Compendium that extends copyright protection to playlists to ensure consistency and certainty as to whether users' playlists must be protected under the Copyright Act.

Disciplines

Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law | Intellectual Property Law | Law

Recommended Citation

Tori Misrok, How Playlists Broke the Internet: An Analysis of Copyright in Playlist Ownership, 40 Cardozo L. Rev. 1411 (2019).
Available at: https://larc.cardozo.yu.edu/clr/vol40/iss3/12