The Remix Culture is ever evolving. With the rate of today's technological advances, it is increasingly simple it create and publicize your own remix. From one individual remixing video clips and soundtracks to an entire community lip dub, the only issue of production and publication seems to be that of copyright laws.
Youtube has secured permission from many major label companies so that it's users are allowed to create remixes without the repercussion of copyright laws. So we have videos like that of The Grand Rapids LipDub that feature entire communities collaborating together. This video is the product of hundreds of people spending quite a sum of time and money. However along with publicity, more than four million views on Youtube, the Grand Rapids community also gained an invaluable social experience. They also acquire a place in the worldwide cultural exchange that is today's internet.
So we have originals, and remixes, and remixes of remixes, and parodies, and the list goes on. All of them being a form of art, a medium of expression, an exchange of culture. The Evolution of Remix Culture is a video by Julian Sanchez that speaks of Remix Culture with the examples of Brat Pack Mash Up and the Brooklyn and San Francisco versions. Dozens of other cities have made their own versions, like Taipei, Israel, and Rio de Janeiro to name a few.
Without Youtube having secured permission from major label companies, all the people involved in these videos could be sued due to copyright law. This causes one to question the nature of copyright laws being a restriction on collaborative creativity that spawns the remixes that are ever so popular among the youth of today's society. It causes one to question the restrictions of copyright laws on all art. Are copyright laws an aide or hindrance to the art community?
