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thuswise to swerve

M. Ward vs. Mastercard

Submitted by Jim Brown on July 30, 2007 - 5:19pm.

musician M. Ward

So, Mastercard asked indie rock sensation M. Ward if they could use one of his songs for an advertisement (actually, it wasn't his song - it was a cover of a Daniel Johnston song.) When Ward said no, Mastercard got someone else to record a similar sounding version of the song. M. Ward is not necessarily happy.

More on this at Pitchfork, but it's an interesting case. A similar thing happened to Tom Waits, and it seems to be a good example of how it's not just the amateurs that are redefining intellectual property.

"The atoms, as their own weight bears them down plumb through the void, at scarce determined times, in scarce determined places, from their course decline a little- call it, so to speak, mere changed trend. For were it not their wont thuswise to swerve, down would they fall, each one, like drops of rain, through the unbottomed void; and then collisions ne'er could be nor blows among the primal elements; and thus nature would never have created aught."

-Lucretius, Of The Nature of Things

About Me

My name is Jim Brown and I'm a Ph.D. Candidate in Rhetoric at the University of Texas. I teach courses in Rhetoric, Literature, and New Media. This blog mostly focuses on my academic work, but you'll also find occasional posts about music or baseball. I also maintain two other blogs, and you can see all of my blog writings by viewing this RSS feed. I'm a Pittsburgh Pirates fan. This lets you know that I'm kind of a masochist and explains the name of my dog.

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