walking on eggshells: borrowing culture in the remix age
Posted: May 16th, 2010 | Author: dave | Filed under: good read, music | Comments OffA few days ago, BoingBoing posted a link to a film made by some Yale students for an intellectual property class, “Walking on Eggshells: Borrowing Culture in the Remix Age.” The film presents some of the issues that modern artists face about copyright, re-use, and using the works of others to create new work.
I believe that an artist is of his time, and that, even if you’re not using these techniques, it’s interesting to see what others are doing, and the legal issues that they face. (This is the first of three clips that make up the movie. To see it in its full, follow the link above.)
I was a little disappointed that the film doesn’t present an alternative view — legally, but mostly artistically.
For instance, in the opening sequence, there’s a clip of Ray Charles doing a very Ray-Charles-esque moan. I’m sure Ray spent significant time learning how to do that — getting the sound right, figuring out that he wasn’t Harry Belafonte, for instance, and that he could do that, and putting it to track. That moan, however brief, is a part of who he was, and, if you know his work, is immediately identifiable as such. Artistically, why is it okay to take that from him, without any consent, and use it in whatever mish-mash of meaning the current artist is trying to create?
I know that we’re all standing on the shoulders of giants, and the movie presents that idea. The current music scene wouldn’t be what it was if artists didn’t learn from the artists before them. But in past ages, a musician would learn a technique, adopt it to their own work, and then decide whether they wanted to or could use that. (I can’t moan like Ray Charles, but I can moan. What does it feel like when I do it? Steve Winwood is pretty clearly channeling Ray in ‘Gimme Some Lovin”, but it’s now his own.) In that exploration, the artist becomes better at his craft, and, eventually, develops his own style.
But mashups seem like power without discipline or understanding to me. The artist is borrowing Ray Charles’ moan without the price of learning or experiencing what that means or any real ability to make it their own. It’s just a cool beat. It feels like it might be great the first time — reinventing the past! finding new dimensions in old work! the startling juxtaposition! — but the 10th? The 10,000th?
And what’s the purpose? Do artists make mashups just because they sound good? That seems fun, but ultimately hollow. Is the music of our current culture really just about the beat? This seems like the basest description of music to me, however immediately enjoyable. If so, what does that say about us? Where does the mashup artist present his own voice?
Is this entire field of music just about the cultural connection? “You and I — we have a past! Because we both watched The Brady Bunch!”
I suppose there’s an argument to be made that it’s like jazz — riffing on existing themes and ideas. But, again, there’s a discipline and knowledge there that doesn’t seem to exist in this form.
I also think there’s a slope — it’s one thing to borrow a beat, and do something on top of it. It’s another to make your work largely predicate on that of others.
I am completely open to being educated on this. — Bring out your mashups that rise above the source.