Kutiman Continues To Make Amazing New Music Via Musical Collage
from the who-owns-the-copyright? dept
We've written a few times in the past about the brilliant musician, Kutiman, who creates astounding musical works through what might be called musical collage -- taking bits and pieces he finds on YouTube and mixing them into something amazing and wonderful. From a copyright standpoint, what he's doing is almost certainly infringement, in some sense, under today's laws, though thankfully no one is challenging him on that (and Israel, where he's from, has decent fair use protections). He's now released his latest work, and while it's also a musical collage, it's quite different in nature. Rather than just pull clips from YouTube, he spent a couple months going around Jerusalem, interviewing various local musicians and asking them all to just improvise some music (all around the key of D), and then mixed it together into this amazing sounding song (and wonderful video), called Thru Jerusalem:
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Filed Under: copyright, creativity, culture, kutiman, music, piracy, remix
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Every creation is a mash-up of other creations we've experienced. Originality, inspiration, invention, those are just the creations we, often including the creator, can't dissect.
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Yes, I would want that.
If the person is such a brilliant musician, why do they need to copy the works of others?
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Why would Hollywood exist in a world without IP law?
Why are you even mentioning brilliance, when most modern 'genius' in music is shamelessly lifted?
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If the person is such a brilliant musician, why do they need to copy the works of others?
Because no art can exist in a cultural vacuum.
You cannot name a single composer of note who has never copied from another.
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Somewhere...
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Musicians are Separate from Composers and Songwriters
You and "Jackn" are making a common mistake. Musicians don't "create", they perform. Composers, songwriters, arrangers (and producers in hip hop) are the people who craft songs. These positions are legally defined differently. They're not interchangeable.
Kutiman is definitely the arranger in this instance. Whether he would be considered the composer is subjective, I guess. However, unless he's playing one of the instruments, he's not technically a musician (meaning that he would not be legally entitled to that pay-scale; but that's good because he would avoid a forced controlled-composition clause). I'm not diminishing his role, just trying to clear up misconceptions that spin out into massive confusion down the line. I'm sure he is a musician who can play an instrument, since he seems to have a firm grasp on the principles of arrangement.
For that matter, "Mash Up" is different than sample-based works, which are different from Remixes. Musical Collage is also it's own thing (musique concrete). This isn't semantics, these are defined differently for payment and artistic purposes.
Sorry, I'm just kind of a stickler for this stuff. I'm a huge proponent of sample-based art, but there is a lot of confusion surrounding it.
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Re: Musicians are Separate from Composers and Songwriters
It's all a bit arbitrary. Composers don't "make music," they make instructions. Arrangers don't "make music," they reorder the instructions. Performers don't even "make music," their instruments do. Or, equally, they all make music just using different methods and materials.
Feh. If what a person has done creates music that did not exist before, then they're a musician regardless of how they got there.
The guy made music, so he's a musician.
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Re: Re: Musicians are Separate from Composers and Songwriters
To Huph I ask: what do I call the many people I have known throughout my life who compose, write, arrange, perform and record? I figured "musician" was a pretty good term...
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so this guy isn't a musician? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O31fAYdjdVU
I'd argue he is choosing which sounds play when, no differently than a person playing a guitar.
Also what is stopping a Musician from being the composer/songwriter/arranger as well? So you are saying that if there is no payment structure for something it shouldn't exist? Hmm, see Http://www.kernel.org/ it seems like it could use your help getting a payment system setup. or maybe http://www.mozilla.org/ .
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Re: Re: Musicians are Separate from Composers and Songwriters
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Ask for permission.
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Re: Ask for permission.
This issue is the one that opened my eyes to the fact that our current copyright laws are absurd and harmful both to individuals and society at large. This issue is why I consider copyright as it currently exists to be immoral and fully worthy of ignoring.
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Re: Ask for permission.
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*facepalm*
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Musicians are Separate from Composers and Songwriters
and arrangers are not musicians?!
yeah, keep pulling things out of your ass.
[facepalm]
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This video is a perfect example of what can be done when you ask rather than take. It allowed the individual artists involved to contribute their work as they saw fit, and the mashup guy worked with that product to produce a final edited piece.
No copyright issues, no problems.
The usual Techdirt crew (like you Marcus) could learn a lot from this process.
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Someday they'll answer my pleas, I'm sure of it.
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*Listens to Bach as he plays the smallest violin*
Do you really, really, REALLY think that he asked each of those people involved in his work for permission?
Or did he create by the thumb of fair use and you're just being inflammatory?
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Re: *Listens to Bach as he plays the smallest violin*
I am beginning to suspect he has no soul.
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"he spent a couple months going around Jerusalem, interviewing various local musicians and asking them all to just improvise some music (all around the key of D), and then mixed it together into this amazing sounding song"
There you go.
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Re: Re: *Listens to Bach as he plays the smallest violin*
Unless he had a team of lawyers with him on the trip, then the copyright status of this work is still very much in question. It's only not an issue because nobody has chosen to make it one.
And I guess you are asserting that he shouldn't have done any of the youtube mashups that made him famous and let him fund a project like this? Because art should only be for the rich, right? Like I said: no soul.
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And he would certainly not be allowed to use it for free.
In summary, it would never have been done. Which is fine by Big Content, because thats less competition.
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Seeing $$$$
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this guys is amazing
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Reverse Music Video
Usually, the music is written first, then created in a studio. ONLY THEN do the film directors go out on location and film violinists next to wailing walls, or what have you. Those musicians/actors (milli vanilli) on location just "dub" or lip sync the music to create the film. Nothing wrong with this, and it is the easier way to do a video.
But here, Kutiman does the opposite. He films and records artists riffing ex tempore in the field, then actually uses those field recordings to splice/overlay the music. The riffs become his instrument. The music is written, if 'written' is even the word, ex post facto.
It sounds and looks great. How can we stop this madman?
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