[linux-audio-user] so.... u wish to hear something completely horrible

Ryan Heise ryan at ryanheise.com
Tue Aug 15 11:38:07 EDT 2006


On Tue, Aug 15, 2006 at 03:30:27PM +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> Ryan Heise wrote:
> > On Mon, Aug 14, 2006 at 09:34:25PM +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
> >> I didn't make the track in question. However I have remixed several 
> >> tracks which incorporate samples from other peoples work with varying 
> >> degrees of appreciation from people who have listened. I am not the only 
> >> one to do it and I defend the freedom I have to do it whether it is 
> >> deemed illegal in some countries or not.
> > 
> > On the surface, this seems like a good argument. I scratched my head for
> > a while trying to figure out what was wrong with it, because something
> > seemed wrong. Finally I came up with this:
> > 
> > It does not follow that since you appreciate/enjoy something, that you
> > ought to have the "freedom" or "right" to do it, because sometimes
> > things that you appreciate/enjoy doing can impact negatively on other
> > people. When this happens, the law often steps in to protect the other
> > people.
> > 
> 
> My heart bleeds...

Hmm :-(

> We are talking about music as art not terrorism.

Here you are implying that my point was about terrorism. It wasn't at
all.

The example I gave (which you removed from your quote) was about someone
taking someone else's work and changing it to make it look like the
original author supported a certain view that he did not.


What is the harm in asking the original author first before using their
work in a certain way? It is actually quite a thoughtful and respectful
thing to do.

> It's definitely in the realm of artistic credibility to go against the 
> norm or break the law to make a statement or create your personal 
> masterpiece.

Again, what is the harm in asking someone if you can use a bit of their
song in a certain context before actually doing it? The law you are
talking about "breaking" is essentially suggesting to you that you ought
to follow a not-so-radical idea called "respect".

To save writing it in another email, I'll also state here that I support
the view that music produced by mixing bits of other people's songs
together is a valid art form, and such music typically contains
interesting sounds and harmonies that are not present individually in
the original songs. But there is a thoughtful and respectful way to
produce such music that involves talking to the original artists first.

-- 
Ryan Heise
http://www.ryanheise.com/



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