Is copyright a threat to creativity?

Brett Gaylor's site, Open Source Cinema, is a website he's been working on to create Basement Tapes, a documentary about music and copyright.  Writes Brett: "I'm trying to get to the bottom of all this copyright craziness that I've been following since the Internet kicked the legs out from underneath  the record industry - lawsuits, crackdowns, mashups and smackdowns. In the face of the hysteria around the downloading of music and illegal sampling, the film asks the question: is copyright a threat  to creativity?"