I first got introduced to the idea of Remix Culture when I read Free Culture (which you can read for free at that link) a couple years ago. I’ve been a pretty staunch of proponent of relaxing copyright laws and adapting certain norms and expectations to fit in with the giant data sharing machine that is the Internet. Things that were almost completely inaccessible 20 years ago are now a mouse click away, and furthermore people of a creative bent are capable of mixing, matching and merging disparate aspects of culture is almost limitless ways and the power to create is a very powerful force. Hence, YouTube.
As the guy in this video alludes to rights-holders (specifically in this instance, music companies) have been doing their utmost to stand astride this wave. Unfortunately for them, instead of adapting and capitalizing on technological developments they’ve done their best to thwart what these advances offer. That is until Apple created iTunes and suddenly you can get almost any song ever for 99 cents. I suspect we’ll see something similar play out as e-readers continue to proliferate.
If you’ve no idea what I’m talking about, just watch. It’s pretty good stuff:
