Super minimalist video that covers the history and usage of one of the most recognized breaks in popular music. To the point and super slice of musicology as applied to pop music. A bit uppity at moments but really is a good look at the influence that samples have had on modern music and might be a glimpse of the lack of permutations of future art.
It begs the question of the true strangle hold some parts of copyright law have on what we do. What if this was enforced as derivative work (it apparently is by somebody other than the performer) and will a new Amen Break rise up under the current schema. Music is rife with “stolen” bits, see Bach, Stravinsky and Ives. All borrowed from other tunes and morphed them into new meaning in new works. The quote goes something like take from one source it is plagarism, take twenty it is inspiration. But what happens when the one source is filtered twenty times through a variety of filters and tricked out to essential born out something new. Isn’t that similar to inspiration. One idea begets twenty more.
But the another issue for me is the need for reference to the process and where we get things from. It is one thing to steal under the guise of inspiration but we need to call for the knowledge of where you come from, even ideas. A lack of history, reference or simply a simple bibliography for the bits and pieces we have spewing forth. It seems that the next generation may not even have awareness of the phenomena of this borrowing and the dues that need to be paid, at least in thanks and acknowledgment.
These is the line artist take when it comes to royalties and money owed. They want credit. If artist are looking for this then new media and new revenue streams will arise if you demand credit without creative killing payment. I am looking for the Winstons now on iTunes. It cuts both ways.
From the film: “A society free to borrow and build upon the past, is culturally richer than a controlled one”
[via Pixel Corps]
Technorati Tags: Amen Brother, break beat, Documentary, multimedia, music, technology
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