The UK’s evolving copyright subject matter through the lens of John Cage’s 4’33

This article revisits the copyright status of John Cage’s 4’33" considering recent developments in UK copyright law. In doing so, the article makes two contributions. On a narrow level, the article argues that recent changes to copyrightable subject matter make it less likely, and not more, that a court today would find copyright in 4’33. On a broader level, the article uses 4’33 to explore current tensions in UK copyright law including: whether copyrightable subject matter is a closed list, the role of the merger doctrine, and the nature of identifiability. 4’33 therefore illustrates both the good, and the bad, aspects of contemporary copyrightable subject matter.