Innovators or Pirates

Deciding whether someone who remixes a song is an innovator or pirate is a difficult one, in my opinion they are both. I am a fan of that sort of music, taking the essence of one song and changing it slightly or adding a dance beat to it is something that I would describe as innovation. When dj’s play older rock songs with a dance beat to it, the crowd for the most part, enjoy it, remixes of songs such us ‘Smells like teen spirit’ or ‘Seven Nation Army’ to name a couple are popular songs that have been changed slightly to fit into the club scene. These are clever innovations but in a sense, they have stolen the essence of a song and changed it ever so slightly. Unless the artist who did the remix has paid for the sample or has been given permission to use it, they have pirated the song. I don’t think the artists these days would mind so much considering how easy it is to obtain free music off the Internet these days. Although I do think that it should be in the remix artist’s best interest to legally obtain the music sample from the original artist. Having said that, I am yet to see mash-up artists or dj’s put these remixes up for sale, these artists do not claim that these songs are theirs, they simply just play the music. If one was to take a well known song, change it ever so slightly and then attempt to re-sell it, then there is a big issue. But the way that it is currently being done, I see it as an acceptable practice, yes there is piracy involved, but artists these days make their money from tours and promotions rather than a bulk of it coming from a sale of their music. If anything the innovation of a remix could publicise their songs again.