Intertextuality And Remix Culture

In recent years, remix culture has become more recognized and legitimate. It can serve as a civilization that allows people to edit, integrate, and rearrange existing materials to come up with a new piece of art (Aufderheide, 2008). It is now more effortless than before for people to exchange information and ideas through the use of technology, which gives birth to remixing. It is easier for an individual to share a piece of her work with another piece of work, which would be better referred to as an original work. Remixing can be thought to be Avery’s good concept since it involves assembling different sources of work and changing them to become something better.

These make the whole society grow and have wealth. However, the term remix culture can be thought to have emerged in the recent decade, but remixing was discovered very many years ago (Lessig, 2008). Nowadays, remixing can be observed in every aspect of our culture, like in music, art, and even taxation. Companies that produce clothes like the Gap and H&M, if they want to come up with new design labels, don’t usually use the most expensive materials and fabrics; instead, they develop new designs by referring to the fashion trends in the earlier decades. Therefore, they come up with good, fashionable pieces. In terms of music, well-known hip-hop music has been adjusting from the earlier types of hip-hop music. There are many examples to prove how remix culture has become part of our lives. Studies have also shown that out of the last 100 top-grossing films, seventy-four of them were adaptations, remakes, or sequels. The growth of remixing in recent years can be attributed to digital technologies. Sites such as Google and Wisped show how search engines can help information travel in all directions.

Mixing happens to be an art that stands on itself, just like producing. Some people are meant to create, while others mix. In the field of music, not all artists who create music can mix. However, the term remix in music means that the remixer has selected some parts of the original track that he liked. After doing this, the remixer adds another set of elements with new beats, which leads to an almost new track with only a few vocal and melodic similarities. Remakes are my best types of remixes. A remake comes about when producers want to remix some sort of music, but they don’t have the stems or access to the original artist. What the producer does is redo the entire song, adding layers. It’s quite involving, but it’s worth it. What I like doing in remaking a truck is boosting the melodic voice with penetrating instruments and patches.

Remaking requires that one has an understanding of the former music, and it also requires a lot of technical skills. I liked a certain hip-hop song. The only thing I accessed from the original truck was the vocal hooks; I replayed the rest using layered drums and software synthesizers. Another type of remix that I enjoy is acapella (Lessig, 2008). These are stems that are highly guarded and usually do not have beats. The stems of these trucks are always at the studio, where producers must avoid their content from being stolen. In the 1990s acapella were popular. In fact, most of the R&B, house acts, and hip-hop came along with acapella beats.

For one to release a remix as an original or even license and sell it, the samples that were used for its composition need to be approved by the original artists in an agreement that mainly depends on the money the producer has paid. However, we still have uncleared trucks in EDM. However, intellectual property experts and several other lawyers have become stricter. They also sue individuals for uncleared copies and covers ( Aufderheide, 2008). All this is meant to protect the rights of the original artists, and also, people can get free music. It is necessary for one to be able to differentiate between remakes, official remixes, and unofficial remixes.

References

Lessig, L. (2008). Remix: Making art and commerce thrive in the hybrid economy. London: Bloomsbury Academic.

Aufderheide, Pat., Falzone, A., & Jaszi, P. (2008). Remix culture: Fair use is your friend. Washington, D.C: Center for Social Media, American University School of Communications.