This winter, UTD EMAC grad students Sydnie Montgomery and Mattie Tanner set out to explore the relationship (past and future) between copyright and remediation.

First, Mattie tackles the myth that original ideas are “original” at all:

“contrary to this belief, much of art is based off of a previous work or idea that the artist has taken as inspiration. We would not have literary periods and genres, like Romanticism and science fiction, or artistic periods, like Impressionism and Cubism, if these authors and artists had not ‘copied’ each others’ styles and themes in their own works.”

Mattie goes on to explain that all creativity is remediation in some sense, citing historical innovators like Shakespeare and Disney to modern bands like Girl Talk. Copyright was intended to guarantee enough ownership to encourage production, but it has been extended in such a way that the years of guaranteed licensing and fee systems actually serve to inhibit production. She argues that laws designed to control the professional have extended to stifle the amateur because of proliferation of low- or no-cost tools thanks to expansion and access to new technology.

Sydnie explains “the mass of consumers has been broken into individuals again, who are no longer satisfied with mindless consumption. Some have now become the creators of that media changing how every pieces of media is viewed.” In short, so-called amateurs are now treading waters only known to industry professionals of the past. The traditionally passive consumer now has the means to be an active consumer, and the system can’t currently handle it.

As for the future, Sydnie explains: “There are institutions that will be deeply changed because of this shift and will heavily resist it, but they will not be able to stop it. Instead of taking the view that ‘This is how we have always been,’ these institutions should look at ‘Where will this take us and how can we benefit most from it?’ This change in perspective will make all the difference in whether these institutions survive the shift or are left behind.”

In order to understand understand the nature of remediation, the Mattie and Sydnie recorded a class discussion in Kim Knight’s EMAC 6300 class and made them into a 1:05 minute music track. They remediated the discussion. Through their struggles with deciding whether or not to use copyrighted content in the piece, the two experienced first-hand the stifling nature of copyright laws.

EMAC Remediation Final Project (click to hear audio)

They have since submitted their work to a journal for publishing.