Why Does Remix Even Matter?

Remix is a way of giving new life to something old, just like Dr. Frankenstein gave new life to an old body. Beyond mere parody and entertainment, remix can be used to help give younger generations a greater appreciation for old classics, by presenting them in a way they can better relate to.

Another important issue surrounding remix is that of copyright. Originally copyright law was mainly exercised on large corporations, and its purpose was to protect creativity, not impede it. But today, copyright targets amateur artists as well, and could potentially hinder the world of remix. There are two ways this could go. The first one we refer to as "Read Only" in which a few elite are the creators and everyone else simply views it, as if in a museum. The second we refer to as "Read/Write," where people in general are actually encouraged to contribute to the creating process and add on to and develop off of other people's ideas.

This becomes a question important to our future generations as well, as to whether common everyday behavior (such as downloading music or attaching pictures from Google to a personal blog) will be considered "legal" or "criminal" behavior. In his book Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy, asks, "How is it changing how [our kids] think about normal, right-thinking behavior? What does it mean to a society when a whole generation is raised as criminals?" 
 
Here we seek to find the balance between a democracy of creativity and participation while protecting the creative rights of others and preventing a generation of criminals. This is the topic of Fair Use. (more to come.)