What does it mean to own music? Brett Gaylor’s “open-source documentary” RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009) is an attack on corporate culture for using copyright laws to silence freedoms of expression. Gaylor explores the flaws of copyright in the information age, suggesting that copyright laws need to make sense for the era we are in. I would debate that the integration and assimilation of ideas should be appreciated rather than thwarted by copyright law. Gaylor speaks of the war over copyright and remix culture, arguing for openness and accessibility, the fundamental backbone of creativity. RiP is a propositionn, or “manifesto,” that explores four main principles: culture always builds on the past, the past always tries to control the future, our future is becoming less free, and to build free societies you must limit the control of the past.
Ironically, Gaylor’s film becomes the very example of what it is he is documenting by incorporating illustrations of music and film clips… without permission. Such a powerful medium he creates.
His central character, Girl Talk’s Greg Gillis, performs and records his mashups, which are produced largely by his computer and song library. Defending his right to use material acquired from other sources, Gaylor and Gillis investigate the ways in which copyright violations are infractions on creativity.
“Copyleft” = those who favour openness and accessibility to cultural products such as music, films, books, etc.
“Copyright” = those who favour exclusive rights for the commercial owners of such products
Unfortunately, it is the copyright that dominate intellectual property laws in the United States.
As far as I’m concerned, man has always drawn inspiration from somewhere, they are simply cultures building on the past.
He even goes so far as to reveal that Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love was influenced by Muddy Waters’ This May be the Last Time. Should we sue Zeppelin?
What reveals in part three seems like a joke, but apparently it is true. Back in 2001, Metallica attempted to sue all their fans for illegally downloading their music.
Due to capitalism’s grip on Copyright laws, it is no longer about simply being in place to allow artists to successfully profit off their own work, but had reached a degree that keeps their work largely inaccessible.