Postgraduate Research Student
Luke Thomas McDonagh
Thesis title:
Exploring the Possiblilites of Finding a Modern Solution to the Conflicts between Irish Traditional Music and Copyright Law
Supervisor:
Mr Jonathan Griffiths and Professor Johanna Gibson
Research:
Luke McDonagh's research focuses on the relationship between music and copyright law, with particular reference to Irish traditional music. Irish traditional music generally relies on a process of aural/oral transmission - musicians traditionally learn tunes by ear, from person-to-person. While there are a great many older tunes that lie in the public domain, and as such are free to use and re-interpret, there are also a number of well known tunes by living composers that are accepted as part of the body of traditional music. Furthermore, Irish traditional music has historically thrived due to the existence of a share-ethic and a community ethos, and in most cases the music has been shared and performed without resort to copyright considerations. This thesis discusses the continuing expansion of copyright law in line with the commercial expectations of the music industry and explores the question of whether copyright law has the potential to affect traditional music.