remix

re·mix
“The activity of taking samples from pre-existing materials to combine them into new forms”(Navas, 2007).

re·mix cul·ture
“The global activity consisting of the creative and efficient exchange of information made possible by digital technologies that is supported by the practice of cut/copy and paste” (Navas, 2007). “A mashup …remixes and combines content from a number of different sources to produce”(O’Brien & Fitzgerald, 2006, 1) …“a rich, diverse outpouring of creativity based on creativity” (Lessig in Koman, 2005).

everyone’s doing it, whether we are discussing a recent TV show with a friend, citing references in an essay or remixing, changing and mashing-up existing content. Remix culture is not a new idea in society although advances in digital technology and the internet are propelling it forward at increasing momentum and, although vast, all of these forms of communication and expression are essentially remix culture. In a bid to put our own creative stamp on the world we not only generate new content, but remix and reinvent content in new and individual ways. “We now inhabit a ‘remix culture’, a culture which is dominated by amateur creators – creators who are no longer willing to be merely passive receptors of content” (O’Brien & Fitzgerald, 2006, 1). The media world is shifting from a sit, watch but don’t comment realm into a vast and ‘scary’ interactive, multifaceted creative society where anything is fair game…or is it?

Remix culture has faced similar criticisms and adversity that all new media technologies and creative medias have come up against in the past. The corporations throw their arms up in protest at the thought of content control and revenue generation being plied out of their ‘greedy hands’. Remix culture turns the accepted notion of content use on its head and this is no more graphically illustrated than in the metamorphosis of the Green Day album American Idiot into the remixed American Edit.

The mashup album of Green Day’s American Idiot, released by Party Ben and team9 under the alias Dean Gray, is amongst the countless cases of remix culture clashing swords with older media institutions and practices. In 2005 the album, aptly named American Edit, was released solely on the Internet but was shutdown after receiving an infamous ‘cease and desist’ order after only ten days from Warner Records, Green Day’s label.

There is a ton of new creativity in the user generated space, and much of it builds on unauthorized uses of copyrighted material. In this new era of participatory media, where should we draw the line between infringement and fair use? Take a look at our new video, highlighting some of the ways that existing content is being repurposed.

This video is designed to provoke discussion!!!

A mashup for the Total Recut Video Remix Challenge 2008 - "What is Remix Culture?"

List of all entries in the competition:
http://www.totalrecut.com/contest-videos.php

From the Total Recut Website:
"This contest is being run to promote awareness of remix culture in an educational capacity by encouraging the fair use of a wide variety of content and also to create a new pool of work that explains what remix culture is to the general public".
http://www.totalrecut.com/contest1.php