Peter DiCola
Department: School of Law
Colleges / Universities: Northwestern University
Contact
375 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Email: p-dicola@law.northwestern.edu
Website: Northwestern faculty profile
Peter DiCola is an associate professor at Northwestern University School of Law. He received his J.D. as well as his Ph.D. in economics from the University of Michigan. His research has centered on the music industry and related industries. Currently, he is focusing on copyright law’s regime for digital sampling and deregulation in the radio industry. He uses empirical methods and applied economic models to study intellectual property law, media regulation, and their intersection. In graduate school, he worked with the non-profit Future of Music Coalition on many research projects and he continues to serve on its board of directors.
Degrees
A.B. Princeton University
J.D. University of Michigan
Ph.D. Economics, University of Michigan
Recent Academic Article Summaries
Economic View of Legal Restrictions on Musical Borrowing and Appropriation, An
Argues that using an economic framework to analyze music sampling reveals that copyright law might distort creativity.
Musicians use existing music in creating new music all the time. This borrowing is often done through music samples, which highlights how copyright law treats different kinds of musical borrowing differently. The result of this is a possible distortion of a musician’s creativity.
Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling
Digital sampling is the art of combining excerpts from existing music recordings to make new music. Musicians must navigate a cumbersome licensing process to obtain permission to use samples. Classic hip-hop recordings made in the 1980s could no longer be made today.
Licensing tiny samples of music should not violate copyright law. The process for licensing samples should be reformed.
Choosing Between the Necessity and Public Interest Standards in FCC Review of Media Ownership Rules
This article discusses the proper standard of review for reevaluation of media ownership rules by the FCC.
The standard of review used in assessing the FCC’s media ownership rules affects administrative efficiency by determining how closely the FCC must scrutinize its rules every four years.
Blog Posts
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