‘RiP: A Remix Manifesto’ vs. Copyrights
As we all know, the issues surrounding music copyright laws have created an on-going battle between artists, labels and consumers for many years now. This is by far one of the largest subjects flooded with areas of grey; lawsuits of questionable outcome have been a constant as our digital age continually progresses. Napster was probably one of the most well known cases in our history, with lawsuits filed against the creator for developing a way for people across the globe to share music. They were neither the first and obviously not the last medium for the digital exchange of music, but were more-or-less used as an example of “this is what the big music industry can do to you if you try to fuck with it’s money intake”. Peer to Peer networks have only grown since then, becoming easier for the exchange of music online especially with the introduction of torrents; making it possible to share bits of information with multiple people at the same time.
Another touchy subject is that of remixing or sampling. A practice that has been going on for decades, yet only recently is there such an uproar due to mash-up artists like Diplo and Girl Talk. To be quite honest there wouldn’t be half the music today if some sort of sampling didn’t happen; Hip Hop was started by taking old funk and soul records and looping the breaks in order to form an extension of that break. Rock and Pop would have died out a long time ago if you couldn’t take influences from past bands, how many guitar riffs can you make before having to resort to taking bits and pieces and forming your own interpretation? The Rolling Stones based an idea off a gospel song by the Staple Singers when creating the song ‘The Last Time’, which was later turned into an orchestral version by their agent Andrew Loog Oldham. Thirty years later, The Verve sampled sections of Oldham’s version for their track ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ and were sued by The Rolling Stones (for doing something they had done three decades prior), therefore losing all money the band had made from the song. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards then made more money by selling The Verve’s version to Nike for an ad campaign. As far as I’m concerned, that’s pretty disgusting.
This got me wondering where the lines are drawn. Does a shitty AC/DC cover band have to hand over royalties after making their couple of hundred bucks playing in some shady bar? Does a DJ have to fork out money to all the artists whose records he plays at a live gig, or even on cd for that matter? Why can some pop music artists blatantly use another artists music, while others are getting sued over just a sample?
‘RiP: A Remix Manifesto’ is a new documentary by Brett Gaylor that examines the questions surrounding the copyrights of all intellectual property. A battle between those that want to share ideas and those that want to sell them. A six year development that has become possible with the aid of Greg Gillis (Girl Talk), Cory Doctorow, Lawrence Lessig and a couple other remix/mash-up artists; This film explores the history of copyright infringement, from Muddy Waters to the Rolling Stones to Walt Disney and throughout countries all across the globe.
Another inspirational aspect to this project is that Brett Gaylor is taking a new approach and letting you have your part. This is, as Gaylor states, “An ambitious and ground-breaking Open Source documentary, all of the footage for the film is released under a Creative Commons license and can be re-mixed at OpenSourceCinema. Hundreds of collaborators have submitted material through the website over a 4 year period to produce a truly global film, one that harnesses the power of social media and collaboration.“
This documentary is currently screening across Canada:
March 6 (open run)
Cinema Du Parc, Montreal (French subtitles)
March 6 (open run)
AMC Forum, Montreal (original English)
March 13 (open run)
AMC Yonge & Dundas, Toronto
March 13 (open run)
Royal Cinema, Toronto
March 18-20, 22, 25,26
Cinematheque Winnipeg, Winnipeg
March 20 (open run)
The Ridge Cinema, Vancouver
March 20 (open run)
The Plaza Cinema, Calgary
March 27 – April 4
The Mayfair Cinema, Ottawa
April 3 – April 9
Metro Cinema, Edmonton
April 3 – April 9
Broadway Cinema, Saskatoon
April 9
Paramount Cinema, Kamloops BC
Here’s the trailer for your viewing pleasure:
…And for your ears:
Girl Talk – Shut The Club Down
Diplo & M.I.A – Sunshowers (Diplo mix)
The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
MC Lars – Download This Song (ft. Jaret Riddick from Bowling For Soup)
what’s especially egregious about the stones (oldham, really) suing the verve is that he’d given permission to sample ‘the last time’. after they’d already released the song, he heard it and decided they’d used ‘too much’ of the sample. serious douchebaggery.