Did you know performances, regardless of the genre, are protected by copyright? If you've been following news around the game Fortnite, you've probably been learning this. And who has never noticed the copyright notice at the end of television episodes and movies? That's how many of us learned (or practiced) Roman numerals.
Remember that part of the definition of copyright requires the artifact to be in a fixed, tangible medium. That's easier for some performance artifacts than others, but it doesn't matter. They're copyrighted...within certain limits that aren't all that different from the rules surrounding securing processes.
Because these performances are copyrighted, there are a lot of issues involving licensing and permissions around them - sharing them, using them in anything resembling a Fair Use application, distributing them. We're going to explore this through various performing arts and situations that have arisen. Maybe even try to answer questions along the way.
It's a wild ride, folks.