The video we watched in class, Rip: A remix manifesto, got me interested in copyright laws, particularly the creative commons movement, and its mission in creating a world where individuals can express themselves without the restraints of copyright laws. I attempted to do some research on it, but most of it was in Spanish so that sucked.
I did learn about Gilberto Gill, a top Brazilian artist and Minister of Culture who is encouraging fans to film footage from his concert and post it around the web. This was amazing to me considering I got my brand new camera taken away at the Britney Spears concert in the fifth grade. Most American artists, particularly the more popular and wealthy ones, see people posting footage from their concerts as a threat to their future ticket and music sales. The logic is that people will post this footage online, and other people will see it, which eliminates the desire to see the concert. I think this view is extremely false. The real reason people should go to concerts is about the experience of hearing the artists live that cannot be conveyed on a tape or film. If people want to take pictures and shoot footage to help them relive the moment they should be allowed too and taking a 10 year olds camera is a pretty shitty thing to do.
I also think it is ridiculous that artists feel threatened by people who mash up their music, because honestly I think they should be flattered. Mashup artists do not mash up music that they don’t think sounds good. Good mash up artists use their amazing taste in music and their skills with technology to make music that sounds good and that people will be able to relate too. Sometimes when I listen to a good mashup it reminds me how much I love a particular song and hearing that track blended with another song that I love is an amazing feeling that only heightens my love for the song. Everyone has a favorite song, but you have to admit that hearing this same song over and over again can be limiting and get pretty old. Mashups’ allow us to hear our favorite songs in different musical contexts, which personally revives my love for the song. For example, Drakes’ mashup with Coldplay allows listeners to get the amazing sounds of both very different artists all in one song. Although I love Coldplay, I probably would only put it on if I was doing math homework or in a really relaxed mood, but I would put this mashup with drake on in other contexts like when I was hanging with friends because it adds a more upbeat, and relevant vibe with the incorporation of a rap artists. The mixture of these two genres and giving another artists a chance with old lyrics creates an amazing song.
Creating songs in different contexts also allows for a broader audience. Some artists I would have never listened to if I had not heard their music in a mash with a more popular song. For example, Mochi Beats came out with a song called “Say its Empathy” which is primarily a mashup with Rihanna and Eminem’s “Love the Way you Lie”, Crystal Castles “Empathy”, and Lupe Fiasco’s “ Slow Down”. I discovered my love for Crystal Castle’s music by listening to the mochi beats song and saw that they came to my hometown and bought tickets to their concert. I would have never attended their show or maybe even heard of them if I had not been exposed to their music in this mashup.
^ The above mashup was also nice because I know just about the whole world is sick of hearing the overplayed track, “Love the way you lie”. I never really liked or appreciated the song until I could hear it another context with an artist that appealed to my taste like crystal castles. So basically, Rihanna and Eminem should be thanking mochi beats for mixing their song with crystal castles and Lupe Fiasco and creating, in my opinion, a much better version.
Mashups also appeal to those kids (like me) who have short attention spans and cannot stand to listen to the same shit for 4 minutes straight. Milkman appeals to me because he mashes up so many different songs that just are not as interesting by themselves. He incorporates sometimes dozens of artists and songs together that takes the best aspects from the music and compiles it all to create an ultimately great song. Songs sometimes get inappropriately repetitive, and I believe artists like milkman help create a better energy that appeals to me and my generation. Below is a great milk man song.
Mashups can also be a way to resurface feelings by mixing songs with common themes. A great example of this is DJ Earworms “United States of Pop”. It mashups all of the top hits from 2009. I hope that this tradition will continue every year and I will be able to look back on these mashups and hear songs that will resurface memories and remind me of the great times I had in each year, like a musical scrap book. Im sure all of you all have heard this but here is a link below.
So.. In conclusion, I cannot really fathom why artists can be upset with their music being mixed. The only defense they have is that they are not getting the sufficient funds from those who are doing the mixing. In my opinion, this is a really really lame excuse. The purpose of artists producing music shouldn’t be about the large paychecks they receive in the mail, it should be about their music being heard by the general public and if mashups allow more people to be exposed to their music, then why the hell are they complaining. The revenue should come from how amazing they can throw down their music in live shows. If someone wants to get money from a song they made then they can go perform their version of the song and get paid for it. Artists need to realize that a song does get old and has limitations so if they want to mashup and make their song better, more relevant, and appeal to more people then they should mash up their own music, but in the meantime they should be thanking the mashup artists who are doing it for them. If artists do not want their music to be interrupted in different ways by the general public then they should keep it to themselves. Apart of this interpretation is people taking the message from the music and applying it to their individual contexts. This is a pleasurable aspect of music and mashups help facilitate this by exposing a new twist on music by using old musical material to create something great and more relevant.
I agree with a lot of what you said in this blog! I'm all about mash up artists having the ability to continue to show their creativity. My favorite sentence of you blog is "Mashups also appeal to those kids (like me) who have short attention spans and cannot stand to listen to the same shit for 4 minutes straight." That in itself is enough for me to support remix culture. I personally think that we should learn from the example of the Brazilians and accept that the advances in technology and the growth of the internet is bound to shape our culture. I hope that in the future people like Metallica are overruled and the poor lady from Minnesota who downloaded a few songs isn't found guilty of a major crime.
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