The video showing the bassist overlaying his tracks over the white stripes album reminded me of another band that was created through online(and snail mail) collaboration: The Postal Service. The Band is a collaborative effort between of vocalist Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie and producer James Tamborello of Dntel, Headset and Figurine. They exchanged tracks and ideas over post and internet to make the songs for this band. Even though there was no copyright infringement involving the music because they were creating a new band, it was ironic that the U.S. Postal Service sent the band a cease and desist letter, citing its trademark on the phrase "postal service". I was also reminded of another artist that has strong roots in the online community: DJ Danger Mouse. Around February of 2004 he made a mash-up of Jay-Z's Black Album and The Beatles' White Album and titled it, The Grey Album. He was faced with complaints from the British label EMI for his use for the Beatles' tracks. Ironically, Jay-Z made his own rock mash-up album later in the year with Linkin Park. Danger Mouse went on to collaborate with Cee-Lo Green to form the band Gnarls Barkley which has had commercial success, and whose commercial success has come in most part from downloads on the internet. These examples show how the internet and its communities have already had a great affect on the commercial music industry today. These artists had released their albums for free download which built them a fan base, which allowed them to achieve commercial success later on. Selling out? Maybe, but the commercial record giants are also giving in to this changed market and being more fan oriented in a way.
More info:
Wikipedia Articles
The Postal Service
Danger Mouse
Gnarls Barkley
The Grey Album
Collision Course
Websites
http://www.postalservicemusic.net/
http://www.dangermousesite.com/
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2 comments:
I had no idea that the Grey Album was made by just some random person who wanted to do mash ups of Jay-Z. I understand why companies and artists get upset if the copyright isn't there, but isn't the whole point of music to be creative and think of different ways to express yourself- even if it includes mixing your own style with another artists'?
I believe that the artists should have the right to control their music and if they didn't want other people remixing their music, well that is their prerogative. What I hate is that companies are the ones that are complaining and won't allow other artists to use the work. I don't think that most artists are uptight about remixing just the record companies.
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