Girl Talk, Copyright, & Great Music

[ 0 ] November 22, 2010 | NewRockstarPhilosophy

I wasn’t going to touch the Girl Talk news story.

It felt saturated, plus I hadn’t heard the record. I tried to download Girl Talk’s new album multiple times and kept hitting server overload problems. That’s what happens when you have a hot jam. And that’s what All Day is, one long hot jam.

The record was released as a free download in 2 options. You could either get each song individually, or the whole album as one giant file, the way it’s meant to be heard.

And hear this record I have. I’ve listened to the album multiple times from start to finish because it’s that hooky, that good, that mashed up. The samples are thought out and well chosen and create a full album experience. What Greg Gills, Mr.Girl Talk, has done is create a new configuration of familiar sounds that together create a new song, concept, and genre.

But still we have this:

Pitchfork: Are you more or less worried about being sued now?

GG: [laughs] I feel confident in what I’m doing and I do believe it should be legal. But, simultaneously, it’s hard to say you have no concern when The New York Times calls you a lawsuit waiting to happen. You might have this clock ticking in your head, thinking, “When’s this going to end?” (More)

As you may know that when you cover or sample a piece of music, typically you’re required to “clear” the songs. That means that you give appropriate credit and money to the copyright holder. You know, that old chestnut.

The defence taken by mashup artists is that because of the small sample lengths and totally new piece of music being created, the genre should fall under the guise of Fair Use. Fair use allows for limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders. But many have questioned whether mashup artists qualify.

My position is that this is great music. Great music will find a way, so the idea of suing Girl Talk into oblivion seems as ridiculous as trying to sue file sharers. You can’t control music. The RIAA has learned that time and time again. Yet this music wouldn’t exist without other songwriters’ hard work.

So yes, songwriters once again will be the ones who lose in the immediate monetary sense. Girl Talk is sure to make money off of the songwriting skills of Beck, Jay-Z, Soljia Boy, ELO, Nirvana, John Lennon, etc.

But let me ask you this; As a songwriter, if your song is strong enough to be mashed up and spread to new audiences, then is that not what all songwriters truly want? To communicate an emotion through their music with as many people as possible?

The creators of mashup music are exploring new musical ground, I can understand how the process can make people uneasy, but this is great music and you can’t stop that.