Nina Paley was approached by Netflix to offer her amazing animated feature Sita Sings the Blues on their streaming service. Sita
retells the saga of Rama and incorporates some vintage jazz, to
marvellous effect. In order to clear this old jazz music, Paley had to
go through an enormous rigamarole, and this experience has turned her
into an advocate for a more liberal copyright.So Nina asked if Netflix would stream her movie without DRM. Netflix
refused. Then Nina asked if she could add some pre-roll to the film
advising viewers of places they could get it for free and without DRM.Netflix refused.
This mirrors my experience with Audible and the Kindle, where I, as the
copyright holder and creator, was not allowed to offer my work without
DRM and/or a restrictive license-agreement – I wasn’t even allowed to
add something to the text or audio saying, “I release you from the
license agreement you’ve clicked through.”Nina’s done what I did. She’s refused to license her works for a
platform that restricts her audience against her wishes, and she’s told
the world what she’s done and why. It cost her thousands of dollars, but
she stuck to her principles, and set an example for other creators, as
well as making sure that her viewers got a fair deal. Bravo!