Remixing and Mashups

I was so glad that we covered remixing and mashup culture in class. I think it is always interesting how people could create a new product, a new creation and make something totally new and different.  Creating remix and mashup videos within our community is a very common and popular thing to do.

In fact, many people within the class have already bloged about this subject Paul in his blog post talked about video Game Modding and Melody within her post talks about remixing within cultures. Remixing culture, as stated in class, provides individuals the opportunity to view music and media in different way.  Remixing allows individual to make and create popular videos such as this one where the top 50 music hits were mashed together in one song.

So why has remixing been so popular?  How can videos(such as the one above) receive over 40 million views? Why would people take the time to create multiple website and give lots of advice of How to remix?

Though there are many factors that all contributes to why remixing is so successful, this blog posts address some of the reasoning and factors of how and why remix culture is so prevalent in our current society.  It states that one of the prevalent reasons of how it can be so successful is because it allows people and individuals choose specifically moments, or songs such as the top 50 hits of 2012, and then allows them to create a video that other people are able to relate to.  Like many people and expressed and stated, they also believe that the purpose of the creation of the copyright laws are outdated and no longer apply to our current society.

In the book I am reading for class Future Shock it addresses the different issues that the American society faced in the early 1970's.  During the 70's technology and digital culture were at there beginning stage as different projects concerning technology and the digital realm were beginning to be developed.  The author Alvin Toffler expresses his concerns concerning the public regulating the area of technology.  Toffle states that " Where self-regulation fails, however, as it often does, public intervention may well be necessary, and we should not evade the responsibility.  Tofflers point that we as a society are expected to treat I guess you can say our technology right as we would with any other rights.  This issues comes up in may ways within technology as was brought up in class concerning aspects of technology such as how copyright laws are outdated, and because of this it is hindering our ability as individuals in a media and digital culture world to not only share information, but also in our ability to express ourselves.

The example of Youtube that was discussed in class is a classic example of how our copyright laws and media worlds are clashing in a negative way.  So how do you think this change will come about?  Do you think that it will be easy?  Do you have the confidence that issues such as copyright laws can be changed and amended or do you think that the issues are so complicated that coming to a mutual agreement will be impossible?