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Author, Filmmaker Kembrew McLeod Coming to Western Sept. 30

September 16, 2013

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MACOMB, IL – University of Iowa Associate Professor of Communication Kembrew McLeod will visit Western Illinois University on Monday, Sept. 30 to deliver the lecture, "A Look at Sampling, Fair Use, Pop Culture and Music."

The lecture by the author and filmmaker begins at 6 p.m. in Stipes Hall, room 121, and is open free to the public.

McLeod has written several books and produced several documentaries focusing on popular music, independent media and copyright law. He co-produced the documentary, "Copyright Criminals," which premiered at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival and aired on PBS's Emmy Award-winning documentary series, "Independent Lens," in 2010.

A recent documentary by McLeod, "Copyright Criminals," examines the idea of sampling music within the hip-hop genre and the impact of fair use and copyright laws within the music industry.

McLeod's first documentary, "Money for Nothing," was programmed at the 2002 South by Southwest Film Festival and the 2002 New England Film and Video Festival, where it received the Rosa Luxemburg Award for Social Consciousness.

His second documentary, "Freedom of Expression®: Resistance and Repression in the Age of Intellectual Property," was distributed by the Media Education Foundation. The documentary was a companion to McLeod's book by the same name, which won the American Library Association's Oboler book award for "best scholarship in the area of intellectual freedom" in 2006.

Most recently, McLeod co-authored the book, "Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling" and the anthology, "Cutting Across Media: Appropriation Art, Interventionist Collage and Copyright Law," both published by Duke University Press in 2011. He has completed his fifth book, "Making Mischief With Media," to be published by New York University Press in 2013.

McLeod's music and cultural criticism have appeared in Rolling Stone, SPIN, MOJO, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Village Voice and The New Rolling Stone Album Guide.

Sponsors of McLeod's appearance include WIU's Visiting Lecture Committee/Council on Student Activities Funds, the Music Business Association and the Liberal Arts and Sciences Program.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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