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Copyright by Christine Emily Boone 2011 The Dissertation Committee for Christine Emily Boone Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Mashups: History, Legality, and Aesthetics Committee: James Buhler, Supervisor Byron Almén Eric Drott Andrew Dell‘Antonio John Weinstock Mashups: History, Legality, and Aesthetics by Christine Emily Boone, B.M., M.M. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2011 Acknowledgements I want to first acknowledge those people who had a direct influence on the creation of this document. My brother, Philip, introduced me mashups a few years ago, and spawned my interest in the subject. Dr. Eric Drott taught a seminar on analyzing popular music where I was first able to research and write about mashups. And of course, my advisor, Dr. Jim Buhler has given me immeasurable help and guidance as I worked to complete both my degree and my dissertation. Thank you all so much for your help with this project. Although I am the only author of this dissertation, it truly could not have been completed without the help of many more people. First I would like to thank all of my professors, colleagues, and students at the University of Texas for making my time here so productive. I feel incredibly prepared to enter the field as an educator and a scholar thanks to all of you. I also want to thank all of my friends here in Austin and in other cities. Your ability to make me laugh and your willingness to talk on the phone or join me for frozen yogurt is much appreciated! And my family, of course, has been a source of unwavering support. Thank you to my parents, my grandparents, my brother, Philip, and my husband, Tim, for always being there for me. iv Mashups: History, Legality, and Aesthetics Christine Emily Boone, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2011 Supervisor: James Buhler As the popularity of mashups attests, individual songs and their increasingly irrelevant prepackaged albums no longer seem to constitute a finished product to many who listen to them. Instead individual songs often serve as raw ingredients for use in another recipe – the playlist, the mix, the mashup – which those who buy the songs make and exchange. The strict division between producers and consumers, which the music industry exploited very productively throughout the twentieth century, seems to be breaking down, and I conclude that the mashup models a different, more fluid relationship between musical consumption and production. In this dissertation, I examine mashups from a music theoretical point of view. I argue that the mashup represents an important musical genre with distinguishing characteristics and its own historical development. Chapter 1 defines the mashup and devises a typology that classifies the genre based on two characteristics: number of songs combined and the mode of their combination (vertical or horizontal). This typology leads to the division of the mashup into four distinct subtypes. Chapter 2 discusses significant legal challenges raised by the mashup, especially with respect to copyright. Mashups – at least in recorded form – began as an underground, largely non-commercial phenomenon, v due to the cost and difficulty of obtaining permission to use another artist‘s recording. I also examine various pertinent musical lawsuits and discuss their influence on the way mashup artists make and distribute their works. Chapter 3 probes the historical factors that led to the development of mashups, including sampling in hip hop music (both recorded and live), collage techniques in art music, and looping and mixing by club DJs. Chapter 4 investigates the aesthetics of the mashup. Critics in the popular press and on the internet judge mashups without specifying the musical characteristics that make a particular mashup successful. This chapter seeks to locate the aesthetic principles that govern mashup production. Using commentary by mashup artists as well as transcription and analysis of several mashups, I divide these aesthetic principles into two categories: construction and meaning. I then develop a list of characteristics that mashup artists aim for when creating their tracks. vi Table of Contents List of Examples .................................................................................................... ix List of Figures ........................................................................................................ xi Introduction ..............................................................................................................1 Literature Review............................................................................................7 Chapter 1: A Typology of Mashups .......................................................................15 Cover Songs ..................................................................................................18 New Compositions and Gaps in the Chart ....................................................20 Changes and New Harmonizations ...............................................................21 Sampling in Hip Hop ....................................................................................22 Basic Mashups and Cover Mashups .............................................................26 Remixes and New Arrangements ..................................................................36 Paint Palette Mashups ...................................................................................40 Collage Music ...............................................................................................44 Megamix Mashups ........................................................................................47 Live DJ Performances ...................................................................................53 Live Rap Battles ............................................................................................54 Megamix Medleys ........................................................................................54 Glitch Pop .....................................................................................................55 Interpolated Quotations .................................................................................56 Medleys .........................................................................................................58 vii Mashing and Mashups ..................................................................................61 Chapter 2: Mashups and the Law...........................................................................64 A Brief History of United States Copyright Law .........................................64 Sampling and Lawsuits .................................................................................70 The Effects of Copyright Law on Musical Creativity ..................................80 The Strange Case of Girl Talk ......................................................................83 Proposed Legal Changes to Accommodate the Mashup ...............................87 Chapter 3: Historical Precursors to the Mashup ....................................................92 Western Music from a Written Tradition ......................................................94 Music from an Oral Tradition .....................................................................105 Twentieth-Century Technology ..................................................................108 Chapter 4: Aesthetic Principles of the Mashup....................................................121 Principles of Construction...........................................................................122 Principles of Meaning .................................................................................150 Conclusion ...........................................................................................................163 Works Cited .........................................................................................................171 Vita .......................................................................................................................180 viii List of Examples 1.1: Public Enemy, ―Don‘t Believe the Hype,‖ .....................................................26 1.2: Soulwax, ―Push It Like a Dog‖ .......................................................................28 1.3: Christina Aguilera, ―Genie in a Bottle‖ ..........................................................29 1.4: DJ Freelance Hellraiser, ―A Stroke of Genie-Us‖ ..........................................30 1.5: Alan Copeland, ―Mission: Impossible Theme/Norwegian Wood‖ ................32 1.6: The Beatles, ―Norwegian Wood‖ ...................................................................33 1.7: DJ Dangerous Orange, ―Hurts Like Teen Spirit‖ ...........................................35 1.8: The Beatles, ―Julia‖ ........................................................................................41 1.9: DJ Danger Mouse, ―Dirt Off Your Shoulder ..................................................42 1.10: Girl Talk, ―Play Your Part (Pt. 1)‖ ......................................................... 50-52 1.11: Claude Debussy, ―Golliwogg‘s Cakewalk‖ ..................................................57 1.12: Charles Ives, ―The Things Our Fathers Loved‖ ...........................................58 1.13: The Beatles, ―Kansas