Lessig, chapter 4: RW, Revived

I thought Lessig's chapter 'Remix' was really interesting. I caught my attention from the first sentence about his friend being an English major (like me!) and starting to question why quotes need to be cited and who is getting upset when material isn't cited. He uses a perfect term which I only had associated with mash-ups and DJ': the Remix. Lessig questions the idea that quotations in papers, studded with information from outside sources, is another form of remix. In that sense, there is a very creative connotation to how one can write. But is it original? I think the evolution of an idea, or as we've learned in English 200, the transformation of an argument with quotes as your support, is a form of creativity. You must come up with the idea and prove it through quotes you are inspired by. Artists may be criticized for using styles other than their own, but it's usually other tools which make art outstanding.

One of the amazing facts Lessig talks about in the section about text is the fact that there are around 100 million blogs world wide. That is an incredible number! There are so many forms of connection and communication. Humans love to talk about themselves, hence the blogs which are diary like. Then there are connections to be made about interests, how-to's, hobbies and the like. Then there are fact/updates from companies...so many resources that allow creative (or sometimes just work) out put able to been seen world wide.

The next section brought up one of my favorite contemporary 'artists,' GirlTalk. (Ok Tangent! I really wanted to mention my favorite remix Bounce That and then saw one of the related video's is GirlTalk's remix 'Shut the Club Down' music video...which is remixes of all of the samples in his song. Pretty Cool/Crazy/I wonder how many people are upset about this now.) Lessig states that GirlTalk remixes, "...between 200 and 250 samples from 167 artists in a single CD. This is not simply copying. Sounds are being used like paint on a palette. But all the paint as been scratched off of other paintings," (70). This is an incredible fact - he is using an hours worth of material from 167 other people. When you think of it like that painting, as paint scratched off other paintings, it seems so miniscule that it's pretty cool that a lot of 'flecks of paint' are able to be put together to create something new. I would be honored to be an artist who is sampled by other artists. I guess it comes back to citing - is it up for Girl Talk to give props to whoever he 'borrowed' or sampled from? Should he be posting a track list with all of the songs and artists he has used in his CD? Or is it enough that he isn't receiving any money for his albums and just celebrated as a DJ when he is paid for gigs like Spring Concert 2009?