Free is Not Only Better, it is the Future

1. The aspect of Girl Talk's music that I find so fascinating is the improvisation structure it uses. At 11:13, Girl Talk is shown building a song by using some set loops on his computer. I had previously believed that his music was carefully planned out and executed, but it is made in a much looser manner. This brings up the question of copyright in his craft: if his use of copyrighted music on his albums is criticized, should he also be forced to atone for the use of his samples when creating? If a sample was not used on the final product, but was at one point a part of it, does this make it less a part of the project? The act of a remix should include all aspects of that remix. In Girl Talk's case, his use of the art created by others created a new art himself. He has taken texts previously published and made entirely new texts out of them. However, Girl Talk's songs will likely never receive high radio play due to the legal restrictions in the US (his albums being free or "pay what you want" have given him the leeway to avoid creating a lawsuit disaster), but this is not the case in other parts of the world. In Brazil, the copyright laws are much more relaxed, and this seems to be a cultural aspect. DJ Dinho discusses how the artists have started to give much of their recorded music away for free and have decided to seek eventual payment through higher exposure and live shows.
     A culture's differing views can also impact how their country views intellectual property rights. At 50:30, Beto is shown spending an afternoon making a remix to Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy", and that night the song is played to the crowd's acclaim at a block party. Beto hopes that the song will be played on the radio. In Brazil, it seems the culture has caused the artists to bow to the ways of the consumer, which is the opposite of how things were turning out in the USA, at least at the time-the film was made in 2007. I also had not really ever considered what the debate of copyright  can impact in terms of an entire industry. At 33:00, Olivier criticizes the rise of file sharing by saying that the Internet has not been "the great equalizer", when in fact the opposite is true. The Internet has allowed artists to stay independent and distribute their music to a world-wide audience without the need for a label's marketing muscle. This past year, Drake's song "0-100" was nominated for a Grammy. The song was originally put up on the site Soundcloud as a simple track that had no plans to be on any album, and was essentially a throwaway track. If the Internet can cause a song that otherwise never would have seen the light of day to be in the running for music's pinnacle award, then it is much more than "the great equalizer", it is a revolution. Nowadays many artists are content with putting out as much free music as possible in order to make money off of live shows. Some are even turning down major-label deals to stay independent. The Norwegian music producer Kygo has built an incredible fan base off of free remixes released through his website and has so far released only one original song of his own, yet he is headlining many music festivals around the world this year. Hip-hop is another genre where free music has become king; many rappers now put out free to download "mixtapes" which contain songs that a decade ago would have been reserved for studio albums due to their quality and radio play. No rapper is as prolific as California rapper Lil B, who has released 49 mixtapes and five studio albums since 2010. One mixtape, a five gigabyte collection, features 855 songs on it. Lil B continues to be one of the most relevant rappers in the game today, and is constantly touring with live shows, new music being released, and has even had motivational speaking engagements at numerous universities, including MIT and Harvard; some other rappers have had their albums shelved before release due to issues with their labels and fade away into obscurity. Lil B seems to have adapted to the new age of digital music, where free is seen as a right.
     Economics is simple supply and demand, and whichever entity controls the supply and distribution aspects of a market has the power. The textuality associated with art in today's world has gone from being something that can be protected by the creator and is now something that the audience owns instantly. The digital age has taken that power away from the industry and given it to the consumer, thereby redefining the industry itself. Intellectual copyright law will not just need to be adjusted to make creation easier, but in order to preserve the music industry structure at all.