Everything a Remix part I

Saying everything is a remix could be quite ambiguous, but is this statement true or false, can we still find originality in art? In my opinion, in today's society, including most media whether it is video, music, books fashion, art, etc., most ideas have been taken from something in the past or even in the current day. I came across a TED talk by Kirby Ferguson about how we should all embrace the remix world. He gave examples showing how music and technology are remixed from the past. (Include some examples here)

My first example of remixed media is in music. There have been many controversies over artists remixing beats or melodies from past artists. One example is Bob Dylan. He has been accused countless times of taking bits and pieces of songs from other artist and combine them with their lyrics. An example is Bob Dylan’s lyrical theft is the song “It ain't me babe" written in 1964 which he allegedly stole from John Jacobs Niles' “Go away from my window". In 1958, another one of Dylans’s songs caused controversy. Dylan claimed his song, “With God on our side” was the original, but the melody sounded very similar to The Patriot Game's "The merry month of may,” but Dylan denied. This article "Controversy Over Composition" further explains.

One of the most popular and talked about R&B artists Chris Brown worked with Usher and Zayn on the song "Back to sleep." Their song was remixed from Marvin Gays’ song “Sexual healing.” Chris brown never denied the use of the melody/beat but rather called it a remix.

Another famous artist who is well known for sampling songs from the past is Kanye West. He had an entire album that was a remix of songs from the past including from artists such as Lauryn Hill “Mystery of iniquity" to the popular Gold-digger song from “I got a woman" by Ray Charles "The Verge". Although sampling and remixing songs from past isn't as frowned upon, taking beats or melodies without permission violates the sound recording copyright, usually owned by the record company, and the copyright of the song itself, commonly owned by the songwriter or the publishing company. Many lawsuits over copyrights have come when artists did not obtain proper permissions under the Copyright Law, Treaties, and Advice.