Topic: Remix
Unit Objectives:
-Become aquatinted with copyright as a historic, cultural and economic paradigm and its value and pertinence to creative works.
-Explore the changing nature of copyright in the context of “Remix Culture”
-Examine your own and others values and paradigms of ownership and authorship of cultural media.
Artifact: Remix Discussion
In the reading, the author described how value in the economy is “most likely to be generated by competition” (89). The author, Lessig, further explains this idea by stating that copyrights put constraints on such competition. What I believe the author is referring to in these statements is that by copyrighting material, you are preventing new music from being made. While the argument is made that much of this new music isn’t worth listening to because amateurs create it, the author follows that argument with a comparison of remixes to blog posts. Remixing and blogging are done on both an amateur level and a professional level. From an amateur perspective, blog posts allow them to express their creativity, which is why they should be allowed to engage in remixing as well.
In the video clip, Can I Get an Amen narrated by Nate Robinson, Robinson explains how an old, popular song led to an advancement in the music industry. In the 1969 hit, Amen, Brother, there was a drum sequence that is now known as the ‘amen break’. The amen break was resuscitated out of the song using a sampler, which allowed for the break to be used in other work, especially in the hip-hop industry. This example of sampling exhibits how a small piece of a song can have such a large effect on music as a whole. It backs up Lessig’s point on how remixing benefits creativity.
The Grey video is another example of how powerful remixes and sampling can be. By combining a unique mix of Jay-Z and The Beatles, DJ Danger Mouse created an original album, which he called The Grey Album. An issue that occurred with the release of this album was with the copyright owners of The Beatle album. While Jay-Z’s material was actually released for the purpose of creating mash-ups and remixes, The Beatles copyright owners did not share the same view. In the end, this event led to the protesting of The Beatles copyright holders, where multiple internet servers participated in a 24 hour free download of the album, making it the number one album in the United States for that day.
Both videos are strong examples as to why remixes and mash-ups are of high value. While I don’t think copyright laws should be completely eliminated, I would argue that they could be reduced or limited. I think an artist’s material is their own material, and that if another artist wanted to use existing material, they are entitled to do so assuming they give credit where credit is deserved. I believe by allowing other artists this privilege will lead to creations of new work, potentially better than the original material.
Reflection: The combination of the three sources used in this assignment allowed me to achieve each of the goals in this subject. In the reading, Lessig describes many of the historical laws regarding copyright issues, however I would argue that the audio clip, Amen Break, as well as the Wikipedia page on The Grey Album provided a better understanding of remixing. The informational audio clip about the famous Amen Break illustrated how large of an impact remixing has had in the hip hop community. It allows for artists to expand their creativity. Creating an original song takes incredible talent, but I believe taking two original songs and finding a way to make them cohesive is a skill itself as well. This skill is exhibited by DJ Danger Mouse in his making of The Grey Album, a collaboration of Jay-Z and The Beatles. Rather than celebrating the success of this, copyright issues were dealt with, though it was one sided from The Beatles side. Thankfully due to the support of various business owners, the remixed album was successfully released and vigorously downloaded. Work like this is the reason copyright laws should be toned down; we need to allow artists to express creativity to their maximum potential.
Future: This topic is no doubt one that I will continue learning about because it is extremely relevant to today’s culture. People constantly go to the internet to download music, and artists even upload their work themselves. Hip-hop artist Drake did this recently with his newest album, If You’re Reading This, It’s Too Late. Today, you can barely watch a YouTube video that hasn’t had it’s audio turned off due to copyright laws.