I hereby name The Get Out Clause as the cleverest band in media law.
The Manchester rock band with a name borrowed from contract law, found themselves unable to afford a proper camera to make a high-end music video. A burst of legal cleverness led them to spend a week around town posing - with their instruments - for surveillance video cameras, now becoming ubiquitous on the public streets, to the annoyance of many Britons. The band then used the UK's Freedom of Information Act to obtain the footage, and they edited together a music video for their medium-tempo track, "Paper."
The UK FoIA applies to public authorities, including companies that are wholly owned by public authorities. Apparently, in Manchester, that adds up to a lot of opportunities to get grainy footage of yourself, if you want it.
A You Tube sensation with their video in May and June, the band has now gone comparatively big time. They've just released a CD and are distributing an album on iTunes. The iTunes tracks are distributed free of DRM restrictions.
My thanks to student Lori Conroy for telling me about this fascinating story.
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