The reading and videos I watched this week for my media and popular culture course really made me question this. The YouTube series entitled Everything is a Remix (2011), really takes a strong stance by suggesting that most popular music today is borrowed or stolen from previous recordings of other artists. In our North American mindset, it's easy to see why artists continually cry foul and sue for copyright infringement and the like in pursuit of justice and compensation. However, with the oversaturation from the airwaves, internet and media outlets by recorded music, it seems like a daunting idea to try and write an original song that no one has heard of before.
Thoughts of "justice" and copyright law may not have always been so rigid. In previous musical eras, when one composer borrowed ideas from another, it was often seen as a compliment; a kind of "shout-out" to the original writer. This may have been much more simple and harmless at the time, as one might only hear a piece of music played by orchestra a few times in one's life. I have often wondered what it must have been like to create beautiful music in an age where only live performance was possible and when composing, you could be pretty sure that your works were mostly original. Being a musician and amateur writer of music myself, I constantly question my own creations through the filter that anything I might write is not truly original, but an adaptation or remix of subconscious melodies and thematic material I have already heard.
It was an encouragement, then, to read about the positive spin put on remixes in the article From Karaoke Culture to Vernacular Video. In the article, three forms of remix were suggested (Navas, 2011). It seems, from Navas' perspective, that one can create original work from pre-existing material in a technique called reflexive remix (p.120). In this format, material is adapted or deleted, leaving the original tracks intact to be recognizable. This concept sounds promising, though I would appreciate having further examples in order to demonstrate the technique.
Despite providing the encouragement that originality is still possible, some questions remain in the head of this rookie composer. How can one know if one is using the material of others, except through intensive research? How can one ensure that one properly appropriates material, giving due created to others? How can a composer or artist legally give credit where it is due?
As you can see, I have more research to do. On to the next leg of the journey...
References:
Ferguson, Kirby (2013, January 03) Everything is a Remix: Part 1 [Video file]
Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UP468k1u_Mk
Guertin, Carolyn. (2012) “From Karaoke Culture to Vernacular Video,” Digital Prohibition: Piracy and Authorship in New Media Art. 119-140. Retrieved from https://uoit.blackboard.com/webapps/blackboard/execute/content/file?cmd=view&content_id=_826904_1&course_id=_28823_1