I had never thought seriously about the implication and relevance of remixes and mashups. It wasn't until college did I ever start listening to mashups, starting with the Kid Cudi/Milkman concert. After downloading his album, which thankfully was free, I started discovering more artists that also offered free downloads, like The White Panda, E-603, Norwegian Recycling, etc. This discovery, along with watching the documentary about Girl Talk, I soon realized that these artists are essentially protesting to the big music companies. Why should they have to pay an absurd amount of royalties to use snippets of songs in order to create art?
As much as I respect artists that produce and create their own music, I think in regards to mashups artists, they are also creating their own sound so they should have to suffer such harsh penalties from copyright laws. For example, Lars Ulrich should be thankful that a mashup artist would think to sample one of Metallica's songs. This could prompt the listener to think, "Oh hey, I like that riff, I wonder what band that is?" and thus would lead him or her to discover the works of Metallica, and maybe gain another fan in the exchange. I know that may be a far reaching example, but it could happen. I know that Norwegian Recycling lists all the songs he uses in his mashups, and I have sometimes bought the actual songs from ITunes after listening to his work. However, there should be a way to find a middle ground when it comes to copyright laws. Artists should somehow get their royalties, but other artists should be able to "build off" or sample other works to ensure a free flow of creativity and artistry. As mentioned in the documentary, the artists themselves are not even getting their fair share in these copyright laws; the laws seem to only be there to ensure the music industry remains the giant monopoly of music they are now.
Like we have previously discussed in class, these copyright and fair use laws are almost impossible to police. There are countless websites that will convert youtube links to mp3s, music blogs that post leaks and free downloads for artists/mashup mixtapes, artists themselves are releasing free or pay-as-much-as-you-want albums, and all the torrents you could download in the world. Since being at school I have come to appreciate websites like goodmusicallday.com and thissongissick.com for blogging about new artists leaks and mixtapes. Even though I have yet another distraction from schoolwork, I love scrolling through all the blog posts and discovering new artists. It's hard to think what the music would would sound like if there were no sampling or mashups because this build-off is such a key in the development of genres. There would be no hip hop, r&b, rock and roll- anything- without the blues and early spirituals.
On a sidenote, I also did not realize that these fair use laws also applied to science. It was frustrating to hear that if another scientist had a patent on a idea, another has to completely scrap the idea and start over. Cancer and other diseases are difficult enough to cure, but we shouldn't be stopped because of frivolous things like patents. I'll admit that I don't know much about the benefits of having a patent on an idea, but there should also be a way to allow scientists to build off each other and make research more communal.
I know this post is kind of a rant, but there's my two-cents on copyright and fair use laws :)
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