This is Not a Remix: Piracy, Authenticity and Popular Music

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Description

Widespread distribution of recorded music via digital networks affects more than just business models and marketing strategies; it also alters the way we understand recordings, scenes and histories of popular music culture. This Is Not a Remix uncovers the analog roots of digital practices and brings the long history of copies and piracy into contact with contemporary controversies about the reproduction, use and circulation of recordings on the internet. Borschke examines the innovations that have sprung from the use of recording formats in grassroots music scenes, from the vinyl, tape and acetate that early disco DJs used to create remixes to the mp3 blogs and vinyl revivalists of the 21st century. This is Not A Remix challenges claims that remix culture is a substantially new set of innovations and highlights the continuities and contradictions of the Internet era. Through an historical focus on copy as a property and practice, This Is Not a Remix focuses on questions about the materiality of media, its use and the aesthetic dimensions of reproduction and circulation in digital networks. Through a close look at sometimes illicit forms of compositionincluding remixes, edits, mashup, bootlegs and playlistsBorschke ponders how and why ideals of authenticity persist in networked cultures where copies and copying are ubiquitous and seemingly at odds with romantic constructions of authorship. By teasing out unspoken assumptions about media and culture, this book offers fresh perspectives on the cultural politics of intellectual property in the digital era and poses questions about the promises, possibilities and challenges of network visibility and mobility.

Reviews

This Is Not a Remix will be useful not only for scholars of popular music but for any of those interested in music in their personal lives Borschkes book indicates that there is much to be said about the long-standing genealogy of collective engagement with music that can literally be heard in our songs, mashups, and playlists. * International Journal of Communication *
This Is Not a Remix does raise some big issues and calls into question accepted wisdom regarding romantic notions of the current participatory recorded music scene. * ARSC Journal *
Borschkes analysis of copying and remixing as it relates to popular music is fascinating and original, and the value of this book extends to those with an interest in media studies, intellectual property, and copyright. * CHOICE *
This book contributes to the immediate topic of multiformats and provides an insightful and densely detailed exploration and analysis of the notion of copy ... this publication is valuable to our understanding of the complexities and nuances of living in a digital culture. * IASPM@Journal *
Offers interesting in-depth studies into DJ culture, mp3 blogs and the history of vinyl ... [and] provides useful insights into the nature of the copy in relation to remix. It is a fascinating read that provides much food for thought ... a valuable addition to the growing remix canon. * Media Theory *
The most enjoyable section of This Is Not A Remix concerns the invention of the disco edit, particularly the specifics of legendary New York DJ Walter Gibbons's process of splicing together extended drum breaks in his makeshift home studio, then pressing the mix on acetate for use in clubs. * The Wire *
Margie Borschke's book offers an exciting new framework for thinking about digital copying of media, shifting the discussion from the now well known territory of intellectual property rights to the rich and complex history of the aesthetics of copying in both analog and digital media. * Marcus Boon, Professor of English, York University, Canada *
This inspiring and well-researched study really puts the disco in discourse, reminding of the long history of practices of copy that pertain to contemporary forms of cultural (re)production. Borschkes book makes a great contribution to critical studies of culture and also media archaeological research and is a warmly recommended for students and colleagues in music, sound and media studies. * Jussi Parikka, author of What is Media Archaeology and Professor in Technological Culture & Aesthetics, Winchester School of Art, UK *

Author Bio

Margie Borschke is Senior Lecturer in Journalism and Media at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She studies contemporary and historical media use and how it contributes to the production of knowledge and culture.