There is no such thing as an original idea – in film, music, any sort of medium out there, this is what we were told in our lecture this week. Generally you take from things that you like, you borrow ideas, use the parts of something that draw you in. This is what a remix is. You construct a new creation due to the things that sound the best and fit in well with each other.

I for one absolutely love a good remix. Don’t get me wrong, sometimes there is nothing better than hearing the rawness of an original (?) song, however when someone chooses to take the song and completely switching it up, changing the beat and creating something that somehow resembles the first version, it can truly sound brilliant. I was not always into remixes, I think you have to have a specific taste in music for it. It was not until a friend played me a few tracks that I started to gravitate towards it, but there are still a lot of remixes that I am really not into. You might not be into club music, but you might appreciate remixes of your favourite songs – you might not. It all really does come down to how people can change ideas to in some way attempt in making it their own and whether or not you enjoy it.

I suppose I have never really thought about the legalities of the practice, I would always just look at it as someone expressing their creativity and individuality by spinning a song in their own way. Obviously I was wrong. Everything comes back down to copyright, always. I was speaking to my Dad, explaining that our lecture was based on remixes and how interested I was because I am generally extremely intrigued by music as a whole, and he – a man who works in the steel industry for gods sake – brought up the fact that copyright is such a big deal in the modern society that we live in. I cannot believe how blind I have been. I understand that it is necessary, as people need to respect the fact that others have created something and it needs to be protected, but remixes literally oppose this entire ideal. There is something great about using other peoples’ ideas and creations and putting your own footprint on them, I honestly think that it is one of the biggest compliments. However, obviously not everyone would agree, and I do not know if I would if I was the one creating the music myself. Maybe I will just stay away and just say “lets just enjoy the music”?