What is Remix Reading?
- Remix Reading is an artistic project based in Reading, UK.
- It's aim is to get artists (working with music, video, images and text) to come together and share their work, be inspired by each others' work, and ultimately to create "remixes".
- All material on the web site is released under a Creative Commons license
- Our focus is on bring CC to local, non-geeky people
What motivated Remix Reading
- The bad mainstream focus – IPPR seminar
- Culture as an industry, prime question is supporting “good” professional creators
- One of the main reasons why the arts council turned down for a grant because they thought not enough "good" art was being created. What is "good art"?
- Fail to recognise that people remix all the time, from discussing to full-blown video mashups
- Fail to recognise potential for new technology and licensing schemes to promote creativity for all.
Industry and govt making it increasingly difficult to use, share and remix music & video
- Culture as an industry, prime question is supporting “good” professional creators
- Ability to remix is important... why? Because:
- The term 'remix' is misleading... think of line:
- |-- reverse engineered cover --- sample remix --- discussion --|
- Copyright puts a barrier. We remix all the time, and don't think about where we cross it... CC gives a range of new barriers up to effective carte blanche
- We forced people to select allow derivatives to promote remixing. You can't do anything with no derivatives license
- But we know all this already, so what does Remix Reading contribute in particular?
- CC and free software are, so far, the domain of geeks and well connected artists
- Most people get their culture from the shops, which we can influence with leaflets and "local" CD releases, and in local venues (clubs, galleries, etc.), which we can influence with events
- Remix Reading created an online space where people could upload their work. It is designed to make licensing, especially attribution, obvious and easy to understand
- Remix Reading strives to bring free culture to as many local people as possible through publicity, events and word of mouth (including, hopefully, public talks)
- Global input (e.g. flantasize)
- Can extend the project idea to other local areas.. planning Remix Brighton (Ed, LOCA Records, good scene) but need money (£1000), contacts, volunteers (inc. programmers). So far we have had no funding - over £1000 has come from our pockets.
- Also thinking about a Remix Prague
- Also promoting free software using website and, hopefully soon, Live CDs offering arty software, and Live CDs booting with amaroK to play content from website
Issues with remixing and CC licenses
- The huge CC learning curve
People not understanding copyright in the first place, sharing & remixing anyway, especially NC
- People don't know that all artistic creations are automatically copyrighted, let alone that copyright lasts for life + 70 years
- Works with multiple copyrights (e.g. music, composite video)
- Tracking down all of the copyright owners
- Is it meaningless to allow modifications if you only license, say, the performance?
- Share Alike with NC/AC creating havoc, especially with videos
- People not using free or open formats like ogg.
- Remixes proliferate the original formats - network effect.. e.g. Chadwick
- People instinctively not wanting their work remixed
- Ambiguity with images ("don't let people change my original canvas!")
- People performing their work, someone else becoming better known for their work (some people refused to be recorded at the launch night)
- Solution to all of those...
Talking to people in person & explaining things via email have been most effective
- When contacted, people were responsive and grateful for having it explained
- Part of the job has also been teaching people how to use technologies such as the internet/ripping CDs/etc. e.g. Roland Chadwick
- We also learnt a lot of people's fears and misgivings this way, and managed to persuade most
- Potential license violations
- Because of those problems, people have often uploaded work that might violate licenses
- No technical solution can stop abuse of licenses (though most "abuse" is accidental)
- Tracking down copyrights, finding public domain works, is time consuming and difficult work
- License proliferation
- CC's biggest achievement is a series of national licenses that are compatible, and that only have four key ideas to understand (BY, ND, NC, SA)
Groups & institutions may be tempted to make their own 'perfect' license
- Even CC licenses are complex enough, must avoid license proliferation that has happened in the free software community
- BBC Creative Archive licenses are incompatible and use different symbols
Concluding remarks
- Remix Reading has been fairly successful
- Over 550 works of art up so far
- Launch event attracted 200 people
- Money and support can make it flourish, inc. Remix Brighton and beyond
Issues need working through with whole CC community
- How / where to do this?
- CC was GPL applied to art
- GPL and software is obvious and easy for programmers to understand
- Everyone's opinions on art, much more complex tp just blanket license it