Freewrite: Remix Culture

Brett Gaylor’s film, “Rip! A Remix Manifesto” causes the audience to take a stance on remix culture: does it cross the lines of intellectual property? or is it simply an innovative form of creativity? 

In my blog, I am going to attempt to answer the questions and controversies that remix culture poses. I felt that Brett Gaylor’s film did an accurate job at portraying that those who are in opposition to “remix culture” are “the bad guys” and solely seek to suck the fun and creativity out of our modern culture. The film made me admire artists such as Radiohead and Girl Talk and countries such as Brazil who are proponents of remixing and downloading and sharing music without severe government regulation. 

Although I am a fan of remix culture, I feel that a a friend of mine is  more of an expert because he is an avid fan of promoting mash-up artists. He recently told me that he cannot go back to listening to regular music, because he has taken such a liking to mash-ups. He says he’s a regular user of web sites that allow him to post songs of his favorite mash-up artists and finds security in the network of other peoples blogs who share a similar passion. The first remix he first fell in love with was Randy Boyer’s “Disarm” and he describes it as an epic rock ballad combined with an electro base that gives the lyrics a new emphasis and energy that would not have been brought into existence if the ability to remix did not exist. He is a fan of not simply electro mash-ups but jazz and rock compilations. He recommended a second song that combined the famous lyrics of Louis Armstrong’s “What A Wonderful World” and the haunting sound of Radiohead’s guitar. “This song intertwined Louis Armstrong’s message with a deeply reflective radio bass, that slowly builds to truly express and further the desire of emotional response of the listeners-- that wouldn’t be made possible without a very contemporary, reflective edge provided by Radiohead” he told me. It bothers him that this type of movement can be associated with hard drug use and raves, because he simply loves the sound and does not engage in the activities that are commonly associated with the music. He showed me the link to his blog that has different mash-ups on it and encouraged me to post the link here because it brings attention to the remix artists and promotes the growth of this movement:

http://hypem.com/jgpiacentini

 Hearing an individual speak with such a passion about mash-ups, I could never doubt that the presence of remix culture within our society should be acknowledged as it’s own art form and a definite possessor of creative integrity.

I think that the greatest part about remix culture is that it embraces the dawn of technology. Anyone can become their own DJ, and the internet gives everyone this opportunity. It can be compared to the 70’s when everyone learned to play the guitar and then there was a huge influx of people who had rad guitar skills. If you hinder people’s creativity, you don’t realize that you could potentially eliminate different forms of art and music--whether it be great guitarists or artists like “Girl Talk”. Fifteen years ago a list of the 100 greatest DJ’s could not be made because it didn’t exist. Now music that could have gone unheard, is spreading because of the growth of technology. It has enabled an entire culture of remixing. I’m fascinated by remix culture because anyone and everyone can put their own spin on it; even me, if I were so inclined. But for now, I’ll just continue listening to Girl Talk and spreading the word about Gaylor’s film.