The debate over Piracy, Copying
and File Sharing is now ever prominent due to technological change and the
accessibility of the Internet. The rise of file sharing is due to soft ware
such as peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing systems. It seems though that when a
music artist copies or shares a file that is not their's the repercussions for
them is far greater then for someone who converts YouTube clips to an mp3. An example of this is the landmark court case between The Rolling
Stones and The Verve. The Verve were taken to court and sued by Rolling Stones
manager after they were found guilty of breaking a license code, which let them
take five cords from the Rolling Stones song “The Last Time” for there 1997 hit
Bittersweet Symphony. The court case resulted in The Verve never seeing a cent
of profit as 100% of the song writing royalties were awarded to the Rolling
Stones. (Bittersweet Symphony, Wikipedia, 2013).
This blog post will take the
stance that remixers such as mash up artists, DJ’s and music samples are rather
innovators then pirates and that all samples used in recording or video art
shouldn’t have to be paid for.
Music sampling makes the world go
round, think of the song “Somebody That I Use To Know” by Gotye Feat. Kimbra
one of the biggest and most popular songs of the past few years. The sample for
the song came from a record at an op shop, as well as many other of his songs
from the past have been influenced by samples. Yet you can’t deny that Gotye is
a musical innovator. The way he can cut, loop and edit sounds in a new way to
create his own take is innovation in it’s self. Please see YouTube clip below.
Gotye - Making Mirrors - a short documentary < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZXLyeatI0s>
So is sampling stealing? I think
it depends who you talk to and in what capacity the samples are taken, there is
a difference between taking a six second clip or guitar riff and copying a
track note for note. One of the arguments is that file sharing generates
freedom for musicians as they get more profit due to making recording companies
and distribution irrelevant. Martin, Moore & Salter (2010) state “When
file-sharing replaces commercial distribution, there’s more money for artists
and more music for listeners.” When tackling the issue of paying for music or
samples D’Entremont (2003) states in Martin, Moore & Salter (2010) “Many
music fans consider trafficking in music downloads fair revenge on the industry
for exorbitantly priced CDs and concert tickets, content restrictions,
disrespect for consumers and corporate bullying of artists.” With this
statement in mind I think that samples for music should be free for recreation
by artists around the world. Everything created in this world especially music
is created out of inspiration by previous artists.
This is a big issue and I hope I
haven’t contradicted myself too much but I see file sharing having its
advantages and disadvantages like anything but to reintegrate remixers are
innovators not pirates.
Reference List:
-Martin, B, Moore, C, Salter, C 2010,
‘Sharing music files: Tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12, pp. Not
Supplied.
-Wikipedia 2013, ‘Bittersweet Symphony’,
retrieved 12/8/2013, < http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitter_Sweet_Symphony>
-Gotye –
Making Making Mirrors – a short documentary, 2011, YouTube Video, Goyte
Music, 8 August, retrieved 12/8/2013, < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZXLyeatI0s>
A very interesting insight into the art of sampling and recording music. The link to the video fits well in your discussion and demonstrates the high level of innovation used by popular artists such as Gotye when sampling music to use in their own work.
ReplyDeleteYour reference to the Martin, Moore and Salter article highlights the benefits of file sharing for musicians who can bypass record companies while their audience can listen to more music.
As you mentioned above, all artists are inspired by songs they have heard in the past and sampling forms another aspect of this inspiration.
Overall, a great discussion about the use of sampling and how it is viewed by the music industry.
While I may be biased as I agree with your point of view, I particularly liked the quote that you used from D’Entremont. The video was also nicely relevant to your content and fascinating to watch. I found your point about how the consequences for an artist who copies another artist seems to be greater than those who simply rip a youtube video very compelling. Do you think this is because the former is so much easier to discover? I think that it's likely a much simpler task to find cases of famous artists or bands violating copyright than regular people such as ourselves. Do you think there is any chance of that changing in the future? Interesting post. Well done!
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