For my mix-tape project, I compiled a series of tracks that were all themselves remixes of video game music from when my brother and I were younger. I'm thinking of making it into a surprise for him at Christmas. Nearly all the tracks came from a website devoted to remixing video-game music and distributing it over the web, www.ocremix.org. The high volume of work available on this site allowed me to pick and choose tracks from games we played together, tracks I knew he would recognize the sources for, and short enough tracks to hold his attention.
What creating the mix-tape helped teach me about the writing process is also one of the core philosophies surrounding the site: that the arrangement and rearrangement of ideas (or music) into coherent, whole arguments constitutes original work, even when the ideas (or sources) being arranged did not originate from you. Accordingly, although I made none of the musical pieces on the mix-tape myself, and even though anyone could obtain these songs the same way I did and stick them together on a CD, my own arrangement can be considered a piece of original work.
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3 comments:
In terms of track arrangement creating an original product my conclusion was much the same as yours. I think this is a unique form of authorship, though I don't imagine the powers-that-be will ever recognize it as such. There are certain noteworthy distinctions between our tapes and the original music forms. I don't think you could ever sell something like this legally, but I do think that it needs to be defended when the RIAA eventually decides they need to start suing people.
THIS WAS SOOO SWEET!
I MEAN, NOT THAT WE HEARD IT IN CLASS, BUT JUST THE IDEA OF HAVING VIDEO GAME THEME MUSIC AND MIXTAPING IT... SAH-WEEEET!
Nice work hooking up your brother with some nostalgia, Joe! Hopefully he enjoyed the ReMixes you chose to include on the mixtape.
If you or him are ever interested, OC ReMix has torrents that allow you to download all the tracks from 1-1600. One of the interesting things about listening to ReMixes from games I never played (which for me are a lot) is how enjoying the melodies of those ReMixes makes me interested in those games too, even though I had no connection with them before.
With retro gaming becoming easier and easier, maybe trying some other OC ReMixes will help you discover other cool soundtracks and games you don't know.
Thanks again for the kind words on OCR; I'm definitely glad to read that the tracks there helped bring y'all closer and enjoy some past memories. Take care!
Larry “Liontamer” Oji
Head Submissions Evaluator, OverClocked ReMix
Creator, VG Frequency
http://www.ocremix.org
http://www.vgfrequency.com
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