When New York-based animator Nina Paley decided to distribute her independent animation project "Sita Sings the Blues" online for free, she recalled the fate of 1920s jazz vocalist Annette Hanshaw.

Once hugely popular, Hanshaw had almost completely disappeared from public knowledge when Paley decided to include her songs in the score for her film. "How could this happen to an artist?" asked Paley, "The answer is copyright. Annette Hanshaw became completely obscure because the copyrights to her songs were locked away."

To Paley, modern copyright law is a force that works to control and contain art to the benefit of publishers and the detriment of artists. Before the rise of the Internet, a filmmaker couldn't hope to have his or her work widely exhibited without selling their copyright to get a distribution deal. But today, the web makes it possible for artists to reach out to the audience directly. And Paley's film is the first experiment in a unique new distribution model that combines traditional DVD sales, viral dissemination, and the "Creator-Endorsed Ma