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Originally Posted by djchameleon
I have to do some more research on this but I just thought I would open up this for discussion. The whole copyright issue, what are your thoughts on it?
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This whole concept I find very interesting, especially since the majority of music I've listened to the past couple of years has been mash-ups... more on that later.
On the idea of producers not being musicians, I think that is a completely outdated thought. For the most part, the days of producers sitting in a lab and grabbing a cool sample, looping it, and adding a generic drum kick is over. There is a lot more creative, nuanced, live instrumentation, genre-crossing stuff out there for us to lower a lot of producers down. Production has become quite an art form.
On the copyright issue, most artists attempt to operate under the "Fair Use Doctrine" which gives them access to use the original work in certain ways without express consent. It has yet to be determined if this is a valid defense for mash-ups, let alone something as simple as a producer's sample... this hasn't stopped the RIAA from coming after people, and most people comply because it is less costly than litigation. It is my opinion that most creative/choppy mash-ups (a la Girl Talk) and rap sampling (like a lot of producers utilize) is valid under fair use in most cases. They are taking previous work and re-hashing it to a point that it becomes something completely new and different. When I pay for a rap track, I'm not paying for it because it sampled some obscure jazz musician from 30 years ago- they are not profiting specifically off the previous work. This can get complex when many mashups simply take vocals from one track and slap it on the backing track of another. Even though it's great, and I enjoy it, it's hard to argue that there was a huge creative process to change the work.
Bottom line for me is that I don't understand why artists don't embrace mash-up and sample work. First of all, it can improve their status and add new fans. Look at Jay-Z, who has gained much more of a broad following due to his Linkin Park vs. Jay-Z and Grey Album mashes. The Grey Album basically massively kick started Danger Mouse, and kept people interested in The Black Album after the fact. I think bringing light to an old track by sampling it can only improve the contributions towards that original artist as well.
Sorry this is so choppy, I'm having trouble typing up coherent ordered thoughts right now... too distracted.