Mashups intrigue me but what really intrigued me was Matt’s comment about how Mashups are part of human nature. I rarely agree- with-slash-understand what Matt is talking about but this one, I must say, I thought was a total bull’s-eye. Mashups ARE a part of human nature. It’s human instinct. Think back when you were a kid and you were playing with the toy truck and the cat. Sooner or later you were going to try to find out if the truck could carry the cat. Then, you got a little older and you tried the same thing, only this time it was liquids found inside glass bottles and a blender.Mashups are in an odd way biological chemistry with a beat. Add a to b and end up with c. Difference is, nobody, as far as I know, ever risked breaking the laws and/or going to jail for mixing zinc and copper and ending up with brass or for mixing club soda and orange juice.
Mixing Stefani and Spears and ending up with what we saw in class? Well…
Should mashups be illegal? They already are in a way, as their nickname ‘bastard pop’ may attest.As a writer, I say heck yeah, but as a consumer, I go ‘wait a minute.’
Maybe it’s my rudimentary knowledge of the matter that makes me think that if there is no commercial purpose attached to the work, maybe they are okay. Maybe if the purpose can be attested to be a tribute or an educational matter, then maybe a mashup would be okay. I’m pretty sure, and I say this as a consumer that the makers of Britney Spears’ video may not be so thrilled withthe idea of their hours of work reduced as an accompaninment to someone else’s work.
On the other hand, and I’ll freely admit to being naive here, it could be beneficial for the artist in a way. For instance, there’s a mashup that I love, the characters of Peanuts singing and dancing to “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” by the British band The Police. I’ve wanted to buy a The Police record ever since I listened to that mashup and I’m just waiting for payday. I know most people today won’t go for the record store and instead just download it on the cheap (or on the free and illegal, further screwing the artist) but that’s how I reacted to it.
November 14, 2009 at 7:32 pm |
I also agree that mashups offer a positive contributions, especially in creative use. After all, are all innovations the output of re-using the knowledge and creations of others, and/or repurposing them.
As you also mentioned, in most creative case, remixed art (such as music and video) will usually just result in positive marketing for the initial product. However, in some cases the result could be “negative” marketing. So while I’m not a big “copyright advocate”, there does need to be some protection for the original producer.
November 15, 2009 at 9:03 pm |
It’s not “screwing the artist” if the person would never have bought the downloaded song. IMO. And your anecdote about The Police validates the arguments of those arguing for non-profit mashups!
(PS – remember to categorize these as reflections!)