Our primary exempt purpose is to educate artists and the general public about the economic, artistic, and social harm caused by copyright monopolies, and to encourage and support the development of non-monopolistic, non-exclusive distribution methods.
The Sita Distribution Project is a transparent, real-world demonstration of how artists can flourish — economically and artistically — by letting their works circulate freely. It shows how giving the audience the freedom to share artists' work, and to organize activities (both commercial and non-commercial) around that work, ultimately benefits both artists and audiences more than exclusionary models do. The project's goal is a well-documented, repeatable model that can be used by independent artists everywhere. This project benefits our artist-in-residence, who frequently discusses the model publicly as part of the project.
Public communications programs: our officers, directors, and volunteers engage in frequent speaking appearances, panels, and interviews, to educate the public about the case for reframing copyright. In the past year, for example, our artist-in-residence has made more than fifteen appearances at conferences, colleges and universities, and given interviews on the web, radio, and television; our pro bono legal counsel has been a guest lecturer to law students, offering critical legal and policy interpretations of copyright practices; and our president likewise gives many talks and participates in panels and debates around the world, in person and via electronic media. We also publish articles and research on our web site, and explicitly encourage republication by others under non-restrictive licensing terms. As needed, the organization funds travel, transcription, Internet servers, and other expenses to make these appearances and publications possible.
The Minute Memes project is a series of one-minute videos about copyright restrictions and artistic freedom. It is designed to counteract widely-available videos from the recording and publishing industries that seek to frame copyright as natural property right. The Minute Memes attempt to build a new frame of reference to supplant received rhetoric about copyright (such as the notion of "balancing" the needs of creators and the public, which assumes that the two are in opposition; the idea that copying is a form of stealing; the idea that control of copying must be bound up with attribution; etc.)
The Minute Memes use visual storytelling, music, lyrics, and high production values to show how art, artists, and audiences can thrive in a permissive and non-monopolistic environment. Several have been released and are widely shared on the Internet; in total they have received millions of views. Minute Memes tend especially to be cited in online discussions about the systemic effects of copyright enforcement, and part of the project is that we maintain a database of such citations, to demonstrate to our supporters the effectiveness of so-called "viral videos" as a means of reframing debate about copyright.