|
|
 |
|
|
Pages: 1
Black, White, & Grey
(Click here to view the original thread with full colors/images)
Posted by: laborat
By Laborat
(Things you can think about while I go off and throw some Cowboy Rap Poetry over some Samples from my old yellow Hopalong Cassady Records from childhood.)
The technology is there and has been for some time that would allow anyone with patience, talent, and money for gear, to effectively cut and paste samples of licks, beats, grooves, and sounds from any audio source such as © materials released as albums or CD’s from popular and not so popular artists. Once these samples have been extracted from whatever source they can then be used in whatever fashion the Remix Artists choose.
Some of these sample Remix Artists have been amazing, leaving the listener gasping for breath that such a work could come from reworked sounds. My particular favorite by the way is the folks who took digital field recording samples of the tones of support struts of the Golden Gate Bridge being struck with a mallet. The current favorite among Net Swappers seems to be “The Gray Album” by deejay Danger Mouse.
Recently On “Gray Tuesday” (a Tuesday not hard to find in my area during the winter months) over 100k downloaded the illegal album. Did I say illegal? Well yeah. Depending on whether you are a supporter of “Fair Use” of remixed materials for things like Parody or Review or Tribute, or Some large Record Company Conglomerate who have legal ownership of the materials in question under Laws written to protect writers and artists and record companies from unauthorized use of their materials with compensation.
As a record producer myself, I have been on both sides of this issue and still feel uncomfortable that this could happen to my stuff , even though I am secretly rooting for the folks who are geniuses at this remix genre. I don’t know how many times I have instructed studio musicians to play a Coltrane or Kenny G. saxophone part or give me a Nirvana sound on the guitars and keyboards.
Of Course I did it the legal way by actually using live musicians to create the sounds from whatever source I as producer would be suit the tune. It’s not illegal to play your own sax and sound like Coltrane or Kenny G. (boy would you get studio work) on a recording.
The Remix Artists on the other hand don’t have to go to the trouble or expense in their creations, they can actually sample the real deal right off of tapes or records and weave it into their work. The “Gray Album” is truly a brilliant piece of work with tongue in cheek commentary as well since it combines parts of hip hop legend Jay-Z's “Black Album” with the Beatles, “White Album”.
A writing analog to this process is shown in the previous paragraph. I cut the phrase, “hip hop legend Jay-Z's” from the Reuters article that inspired this column. If I had made additional cuts to insert into my own work, my fellow writers would say I was on the road to Plagerism. I am certain both Reuters and the author of the article would like credit and a link to their article in this one. If I don’t do that am I in the same boat with the Sample Remixers? Well Yeah.
As an artist, do I really care? If after I’m dead, or still living that some techno advance makes it possible to sample My Unique Sounds from my records and tapes? Songwriters have been mining musical history for their own compositions going all the way back to when we were living in trees and banged logs with big sticks to get their grooves or sounds.
What if the composition being creatively remixed was one that made me or my estate some money? Well, yeah. If I had a family, I would want the fruits of my labors to support them and their children. Do people think that artists do Biz because it’s all for the ART? No way, man. I get my shot, I want to make sure I’m comfortable or have most of what I need to be happy before I fade into obscurity replaced by some new group of songwriters.
Altruism is a good thing but only after you have made your money.
One thing is certain. Somebody better come up with a good plan that both sides of this issue will sign off on. It could get ugly if the federal government insists that virtual reality conform to the laws and constraints of the real world. Oh, before I forget … http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtm...storyID=4559799 Go there to see what inspire this column.
|
|
|
|
|
