The Barenaked Ladies, a popular indie band, have joined the world of musicians allowing their music to be re-mixed. Encouraging people to “Do it yourself” they include several tracks from their latest album in multitrack WAV files. There is a major difference between this particular remix project and many of the others that have been taking place on sites such as CCMixter. In order to download the multi-tracks you have to pay a fee of $2.49. In addition they specifically state that the multitracks are copyrighted material.
There are definitely pros and cons to this approach. The Barenaked Ladies are encouraging people to be creative with their music taking an active part in re-constructing it. They are encouraging people to upload their remixed versions to the Barenaked Ladies website keeping the fan base and conversation in a centralized location which can create more buzz for their music. In fact the whole project is a great marketing move on the part of the band and their label. They are not completely embracing an open source creative commons approach. Obviously there are financial interests taken into account but this definitely raises some interesting issues for us to work on in our classrooms.
As more and more artists embrace remix culture we should probably be adapting our classroom practices as well. Where in the continuum of listening, composing, improvising, and performing does re-mixing fit? Do we as teachers, have the skills and knowledge to help our students build their re-mixing skills? As more and more re-mixing websites appear on line, jamglue being one of the latest ones, and artists encourage listeners to re-mix their music, it is certain our students will be participating in this culture at some point in their lives. Chances are they already have.