When an artist creates a work of art, it is created with the intention of being shared with others. An artist wants his art to be an experience that will stay with his fans long after their initial exposure to his work. However, if there is only one copy of the piece of art, then the number of people who can experience the work is rather limited. As a result, creating a reproduction of the original piece is a valuable way for an artist to expose his art to a wider audience. The goal of any reproduction is to provide an experience for many people that is as authentic to the original experience as possible.
There are many methods for reproducing art that have been used over the years that provide the artist a way to distribute his work to people without losing ownership of his work. Books, music, paintings, and virtually every other form of art has some way to be duplicated so that the money that those reproductions produce eventually find their way back to the artist that created the work. This has enabled many artists to make a living off of their art.
In recent years, technology has improved to the point where it is becoming feasible to use digital means to reproduce and distribute art. The problem that the digital medium raises is that is it so easily reproduced and distributed that piracy is extremely easy, and this threatens the ownership rights that an artist has over his own creation. Things could spiral out of control to the point where an artist could lose much of his revenue that he is justly deserved. In the past, most digital forms of replication have been inferior enough to other forms of replication that this has not really been a issue. The user experience of art on digital media was not close enough to the original to constitute a threat to the artist and his rights. However, while the digital replications for many art forms fall short of the ideal reproduction, the replications are rapidly improving. Some forms of art, such as music, have reached a point where it is technologically mature enough that piracy is in fact becoming an issue, and people need to examine the issues that digital replication and distribution raises for all art forms.
This web site will examine the issues that digital replication and distribution raise for a variety of art forms. It will first examine the art forms themselves to try to determine the role of the artist and audience in their exchange. Next, it will compare and contrast older, more established forms of reproductions with the new digital paradigm that is on the horizon. The site will then look at the impact that these replications have on the art form itself. The next issue is that of ownership, and this site will try to determine the rights that artists and fans have in the creation and experience of art. Finally, it will look at the questions that digital replication and distribution raise, and it will try to find solutions to the questions that arise.
Enjoy. :-)