Last week in ECMP 355, we watched the documentary RIP: A Remix Manifesto. It talked about the copyright laws and how this affects those who are trying to create music with remixes. Following the laws of copyright, remix artists would have to pay thousands of dollars for each tiny snippet of a song that they use. I don’t find that very fair. True, they’re using someone else’s original composition, but they’re turning it into something totally new. If they had kept each song in it’s original context and didn’t edit it in any way, I would understand them having to pay for the copyright and use. However, as they transform it I don’t personally believe it is the same song at all. For example, Madeon’s song Pop Culture uses an insane amount of clips from various songs. If he had to pay the copyright for each of those songs, I don’t think he would be able to afford his computer. Or his internet. Or his house. Maybe not even his shoes. He’d pay the copyright and would not be able to do anything with it. So maybe he broke the law to create this, but he got the benefit of learning creativity out of it. As an arts major, I think that’s worth it.
NOTE: I’m not encouraging anyone to break any laws!!
What are your thoughts on this? Should remix artists be forced to pay copyright?
Joelle Mae's Blog 