So Amazing, So Illegal

Jamie gave me a nice writeup of a mashup where the writer shares some random youtube mashup video that you maybe have seen before called the Mother of all Funk Chords. It's a pretty amazing artistic achievement and probably worth at least a quick glance of your time. But the larger point should be taken seriously. He says "If your reaction to this crate of magic is 'Hm. I wonder how we'd go about suing someone who "did this" with our IP?' instead of, 'Holy crap, clearly, this is the freaking future of entertainment,' it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page. Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like."

Comments

Um, what?

[spiffyman]

it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.

Can anyone explain what the hell this means?

Re:Um, what?

[eln]

it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page.

Can anyone explain what the hell this means?

I think it means CmdrTaco is off his meds again.

Re:Um, what?

[bigbigbison]

it took me a while to figure it out too. I think he means that you should buy a bunch of cheap food on your credit card and put some lies on your resume (or LinkedIn profile) because you are going to be out of a job soon

Re:Um, what?

[ProppaT]

The whole write up was stupid. I think that he was implying that you're getting old and need to get with the times. The whole "this is your new Elvis" is a little sensationalist. This is no different than hip hop producers who've been mixing stuff for 30 years, it's just progressed over the years from mixing vinyl, using samplers, using computer, using computers to mash up songs, to mixing youtube videos now. It's not revolutionary, it's the natural progression.

Once in a while a transition in media is made quickly enough to where one person gets pegged as reinventing or revolutionizing the art. This is not that.

Re:Um, what?

[ShieldW0lf]

Where can I buy tickets to their live show?

Funk isn't something you admire while you're sitting alone in front of a computer, it's something you groove to with a scotch on the rocks in your hand while surrounded by a bunch of classy ladies who like to shake what their momma gave them. The band isn't there to perform something they conceived in a dark room, they're there to play the crowd, to react and interact with the people as they get excited, antsy, tired, etc.

If this is the future of music, then the future is bleak indeed.

Re:Um, what?

[Spazztastic]

If this is the future of music, then the future is bleak indeed.

That bleak future is here when American Idol has the highest ratings and even the ones who get disqualified within one week of the premiere get record deals. Have you taken a stroll through the CD store and seen the mainstream music? It's almost as bad as Nickleback.

Re:Um, what?

[2names]

Nothing is as bad as Nickelback.

Re:Um, what?

[hairyfeet]

The problem is with today's lawsuit society WE don't get to decide if it is good or not. Just take DJ Danger Mouse and the Grey Album. Nowadays you can't do ANY cool sampling or make any mixups without being sued by 50 bloodsucking leeches in suits. If we don't push to reform the insane copyrights and patent laws then the ONLY music we will end up with is some "corporate approved" American Idol style crap, because they will be the only ones that can fight off the wave of lawsuits put out by the trolls whenever they see somebody making money. Do we REALLY want that as the future?

Re:Um, what?

[iminplaya]

You can buy CDs with music already on them?

Re:Um, what?

[Mr. Slippery]

The band isn't there to perform something they conceived in a dark room, they're there to play the crowd, to react and interact with the people as they get excited, antsy, tired, etc.

Go listen to Frank Zappa and the Mother's 1966 "Return of the Son of Monster Magnet", one of the most groundbreaking tracks of the twentieth century. It's "what freaks sound like when you turn them loose in a recording studio at one o'clock in the morning on $500 worth of rented percussion equipment" -- pretty much something they conceived in a dark room.

I'm pretty sure that Beethoven, Mozart, et. al. conceived some of their music in dark rooms.

Yes, live improvised music, or composed music varied in response to the crowd, is great too. But the fact that live stuff can be great doesn't preclude stuff conceived in a dark room by artists working alone also being great.

Re:Um, what?

[n4f]

Why does every band have to "push the envelope" or develop something "experimental" in order to not be called worthless corporate drones. Perhaps Metallica are popular because they make good music? It doesn't matter if it isn't genre defining or something 100% original. Its fun to listen to and I have a blast every time I see one of their shows. Metallica is just one example I used because you mention it in your post, but the same goes for a lot of mainstream bands.

What I hate are music snobs that think anything "indie" is god's gift to music, and anything you can buy from a record store is trash. I've heard plenty of indie and local bands who are absolute crap, but people insist that they're "awesome and misunderstood by the mainstream."

Just for the record, I love all kinds of music, both indie, local, and mainstream. Just because a band is able to sell millions of records does not in and of itself make it crap.

Re:Um, what?

[noidentity]

You can buy CDs with music already on them?

Yeah but the guy who burns them has like never heard of mp3s. He burns them as uncompressed WAV files or something, so you only get like 78 minutes per disc. On the plus side, he has a badass label printer.

Re:Um, what?

[Kazoo the Clown]

Funk isn't something you admire while you're sitting alone in front of a computer, it's something you groove to with a scotch on the rocks in your hand while surrounded by a bunch of classy ladies who like to shake what their momma gave them. The band isn't there to perform something they conceived in a dark room, they're there to play the crowd, to react and interact with the people as they get excited, antsy, tired, etc.

I'm sorry to break your balloon, but not everyone likes to listen to music in small clubs. Even those who like Funk (which would include me, BTW). I understand the crowd-rapport thing, but that only works if the audience is <300 IMHO (well, it may work for the BAND, but it doesn't work for me as an audience member). But in the smaller venues, usually the music is 1) too loud for the acoustics in the room &/or their PA system, 2) crowded full of drunk idiots (and at one time or in some places, drunk and smoking idiots), and 3) was accompanied by expensive parking in bad part of town & cover charge. If that's your idea of the future of music, I don't want any part of it.

On the other hand, the last concert I went to was free, was at the local University music department, the sound system was right for the room and adjusted properly, and I got to sit really close without having to climb over drunk jerks (or vice versa) in the process. Parking wasn't cheap, but that's all the two venues had in common. It was for these guys.. Not exactly Funk, I grant you. But somehow I don't think they are particularly threatened by the competition from YouTube mashups.

But I don't go out for music all that often, as it's rare that a group I actually want to see will be in a venue I would want to go to. I don't care for the big mainstream bands that would book huge concerts, but the smaller bands tend to end up in crappy clubs that you couldn't pay me to visit. So, mashups like the one in TFA provide at least, some entertainment value now and then. But I'm over 50 so maybe that explains my low tolerance for aggregations of 20-something dipshits.

Plus, I like a lot of electronica, which often sounds a lot better on my own tuned up home sound system than in public venues.

Re:Um, what?

[FiloEleven]

Unfortunately, it often seems that Christian musicians put all of the time and effort into the message, and aren't particularly concerned about the musical wrapper, thereby creating music that is often, well, bland.

That is because most CCM that gets picked up only gets picked up because it sounds like whatever is being played on mainstream radio. You get an imitation of already bland music with
s/(girl|woman|baby)/Jesus/g

There's some good stuff out there. One of my favorite bands, even after ditching CCM and most of Christianity, is Burlap to Cashmere, a Mediterranean-flavored group with very poetic lyrics and great arrangements. Even DC Talk turned into something special, albeit very much a studio product, with the albums Jesus Freak and Supernatural.

The primary reason CCM sucks is precisely because it is mostly imitative: it's a microcosm where the barrier for entry is set low because if it were up to mainstream standards (which doesn't set the bar very high to begin with) there wouldn't be enough acts to sustain the industry. Christian artists (which really means "artists on Christian labels") are also subject to "The Jesus Quota," wherein an album won't be released unless it mentions Jesus at least five times or what have you. Additionally, since Christian music is viewed as a reversal of mainstream music, very few artists are willing to talk about the negative experiences that they have as Christians: being friendless at a church, feeling hopeless due to an external situation, doubting God or some aspect of God, etc. These are things that nearly every Christian has to deal with at one time or another but they are not often represented in music, hence the shallowness of the lyrical content.

Mashups

[Spazztastic]

I don't speak for most people, but I personally can't stand mashups. I don't find anything entertaining about it, there's maybe three I've heard out of all that have been good. It falls into the same group as artists like 50 cent taking "Crazy Train" and putting it into a song as background vocals or whoever did the same to "Riders on the storm."

In short, get off my lawn!

Re:Mashups

[Swampash]

Have you listened to these ones? They are good. REALLY good. Not just "clever" but really frickin' good COMPOSITIONS, and I'm not even taking into account the jaw-dropping editing skills this guy must have. If you haven't watched yet: http://www.thru-you.com/

Re:Mashups

[dkleinsc]

Without mashups, we'd all be able to touch M.C. Hammer.

But without copyright protections...

[Reality Master 201]

nobody would ever produce music, art, or literature. Which is also why works need to be protected for a century or longer.

Re:But without copyright protections...

[pla]

Future generations will look back on this time in history and wonder why the recording industry was so hot to protect top 40 crap-pop.

Probably not. I suspect future generations will look back and ask, wide-eyed, "Wow, they could just steal arbitrary two-note sequences from other artists dead less than the full millennium required by Disney? Didn't they worry about getting the death penalty?"

Ice ice baby

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Theirs goes, 'ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.' Ours goes, 'ding ding ding ding dingy ding-ding.'

The future of entertainment seems so old (so old).

Re:Ice ice baby

[Samschnooks]

Thanks a lot! Now I have the bass line from Ice Ice Baby going through my head!

Pay back:

The Oscar Meyer Weiner song. "Oh, I wish I were an Oscar Mayer Weiner ..."

Or "Who wear's short shorts..."

God, if you say, "What?" I've never heard of those." I'll have to put this onion back on my belt. Because that was the style when I was growing up. Right after the Vietnam War. Ford was President and this Peanut farmer from Georgia was running against him, Chevy Chase loved to make fun of Ford on that new show "Live on Saturday Night". Taxes were....

What were we talking about again?

Gasp

[Quiet_Desperation]

it's probably time to put some ramen on your Visa and start making stuff up for your LinkedIn page. Because, this is what your new Elvis looks like

Right! Wait. What?

Call me a Luddite

[Gothmolly]

But the future of entertainment is not a 320x240 flash video with a "mashup" of random songs.

Re:Nice link, not

[L4t3r4lu5]

Hi, Bureau of Political Insanity here. I'm afraid your phrase "words of ethnic descent" is no longer the preferred phrase. We believe that this is still too much of a segregation between "words of ethnic descent" and "words of non-ethnic descent."

From now on all words, regardless of hue, palette, or Pantone reference, shall simply be refered to as "words." For instance, these words are just words, they are not "coloured words", "words of ethnic descent", or "words which have been highlighted because they signify something different to any other word. They are just as useful as the other words, and we applaud their contribution to society without at all decreasing the contributions from all other words, regardless of origin."

EMERGENCY BROADCAST NETWORK

[unclepedro]

Don't get me wrong, I think this kind of stuff is AWESOME. But it's not novel.

Emergency Broadcast Network was doing this kind of stuff in the early 90s, and released a record, Telecommunication Breakdown, that was all made in this style. They even wrote software to do it, and U2 had them do the ZooTV footage for one of their 1990s tours (including the alternate "Numb" video with machinery.) There are videos online. Their work was also a critique of the role of media, marketing, broadcast media, etc., so there was an extra political layer in there.

That said, I think the remixing of video samples in the same way that we remixed audio samples in the past is definitely an obvious (yet delicious) advance in the way we make music... or video... or art or whatever you want to call it.

Here's a link to get you started on EBN:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_Broadcast_Network

Wrong.

[Weaselmancer]

Creed.