Collective Playlist

http://playlist.collectivefoundation.org

I've been thinking about audio-recordings of theoretical texts (as downloadable/streaming files) in relation to the Collective Playlist for some time. The idea came from recordings of Lawrence Lessig's book "Free Culture", which because of its CC license, was 'translated' into audio version by volunteers. In this case the labor was distributed: each chapter was read aloud by a different individual, and the chapters were strung together via a links page.

This led me to think about the maximum allowable length (in relation to "fair use" and copyright law) for referencing a text. In other words, individuals are legally allowed to quote a paragraph or two of a preexisting text as long as we cite the reference. I started to wonder about a loop-hole in this arrangement: if a different individual read each paragraph, could we circumvent this limitation?

During our phone conversation it occurred to Scott and I that this might be an interesting approach, to pick a few short texts and stage a reading-aloud event, where a single text might be passed from person to person, to distribute the work of reading, and also simultaneously be recorded, to fit within the scheme of fair-use. These events would then have primary benefits for the immediate group of individuals at the reading and secondary benefits via download from the Collective Playlist.