I’m addicted to mash-ups.
Most of them suck, usually because someone is trying out a new technique or learning their way around a mixer (and, no, I shouldn’t be one to criticize because I couldn’t mix two tracks of static). But once in a while, a great one comes out, like the Grey Album or Collision Course or The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu.
It’s an interesting concept of doing music, completely (or heavily) relying on other artists for your source material. It’s gets to the heart of copyright law or lack thereof. When does artistic freedom trump the rights of copyright holders (and not necessarily the artists who created the work). Should artists be able to consent to their work being used for such a project, or dictate the terms of another artist’s project? Should artists be able to sample whatever they want as long as they don’t try to pass the original work off as their own?
But I’m neither a lawyer or an artist, so I’ll just sit back and enjoy the product of this controversial practice. Like today: presenting, The Beastles.
More mashy goodness at DJ BC: The Boston Mash-up Project.
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