Final Project Part 3: RIP! A Remix Manifesto

RIP! A Remix Manifesto is one of the films we watched in class. It was directed by Brett Gaylor and released in 2008. It is a film that was created over six years that discussed how people use samples of famous artists songs and music in order to create their own remixes of that music. They then and go play these remixes at EDM concerts and ultimately make money off of these remixes. There is a great deal of controversy whether or not this form of music is valid and if these people owe money to the original owners of the music. This film makes the argument that the corporations are out of control and are trying to control who can use what music and are trying to take all the money. They are all for using samples of other music and even say that it is a completely new and original song.

This is where the idea of the aura, originality and value take place. If a musician creates a song that is original, it has a sense of an aura to it. Sometimes music can even be used to trigger memories of moments that you may not normally think of. If someone uses a sample of that song in a remix, and 50 other sampled song to make a single remix song, does that make the remix song original with its own aura? Or is it just a replica or duplicate? Also, many times artists that create their own songs use remakes of older music in their new music. If this is the case, what music is actually “original” with its own aura? All of these questions are looked at with extreme scrutiny largely because of the value factor. If there is money to be made, there will be a fight about it.

Overall, music is an industry that makes the idea of an aura extremely difficult to define. All of music is copied by sorts. By simply using an E note, is that copying another artist who also used that note? Therefore, I think this example is important to show that the value of the aura is limited to the type of medium used. It is especially pertinent in art and can mean the difference in millions, but if someone remixes a song, they can go and perform it and also make millions of dollars. So therefore the idea that the original aura of something creates value is legitimate, but only in certain circumstances. The last example I want to talk about reinforces the idea that the aura and originality create value. Specifically I am going to discuss a shoe called the “Nike Mag” that was featured in Back to the Future.