Module 4: In Summation

In lieu of a summative post (due to having no comments) I’m going to give a “reflective” post on “Copy, Transform, Combine,” while also sharing some of my experiences and observations from this past Sunday’s S.C.E.N.E Music festival. 

In my post “Copy, Transform, Combine” I stated my opinion of the importance of culturally common materials that have low production costs. Having stated this I reflect on it now and I realize that this is a very broad and general statement that has many issues. First and foremost – my statement assumes that cultural products with low production costs are not worth paying for and this is not true. However small in value, it does still hold value and this is not to be overlooked. But I do affirm my point that there needs to be some sort of culturally common material to be used as building blogs. 

Now switching the pace – a common thing that I observed during the SCENE music festival this past weekend was the use of cover songs by bands. There are many things that could be said about this. I think that bands use cover songs during their live sets to keep the audience intrigued and to connect with them. With an audience member who may not be familiar with a band’s songs and may experience their performance with less enthusiasm because of this, a cover of a song offers a new connection between listener and band. Now I am not familiar with the copyright laws regarding the use of cover songs during live shows. But it would be my assumption of logic that because nothing is being recorded (intentionally) by the band that it would be free to do.

So doesn’t the sampling of other band or artists song have the same concept of playing a cover live? Kind of like my suggestion of allusions and intertextuality in literature? It creates a connection with the consumer/producer based on material that is KNOWN to be someone else’s. Isn’t that how knowledge and ideas are circulated? This is why culturally common material is fundamentally needed, and this is why I believe that copyright laws on music should be loosened and the boundaries of prosecution redefined.