15 Aug
2006
15 Aug
'06
1:38 p.m.
On Tue, Aug 15, 2006 at 03:30:27PM +0700, Patrick Shirkey wrote:
Ryan Heise wrote:
Hmm :-(
On Mon, Aug 14, 2006 at 09:34:25PM +0700, Patrick
Shirkey wrote:
My heart bleeds... 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.
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/