Title of the Essay, Author, and Date

C an there be an Ethical Mashup? by Noah Berlatsky (March 15, 2013)

Title of the Reflection

P rinciples of Mashup

First Impression

An Essay questioning if you can blend two songs that will have ethics in it.

Reflection Paper

Creating mashups or blending two songs is most definitely an up and coming art form that involves lots of talent. My Beyoncé/Murkrat hybrid monstrosity is a (very clumsy) example of a mashup — a song created by combining two or more different recordings. I am personally a huge fan of both artists, and know that I can download their music and mixes online, which brings about the issue of the legality of mashups. I think that Berlatsky hit the nail on the head with saying that there is definitely a grey area with seeing mashups as being legal or illegal. The original musicians are entitled to have some form of compensation, and should have the right to pursue those who use their music without approval, but as Berlatsky notes, this should not stifle the emergence of this great new art form. I can download a Super Mash Bros mix, such as their new mix Mile(y) High Club, without paying a dime.  Creating mashups without compensating the remixed artists may be unethical — but strangling a new, exciting, creative art form isn’t ethical either.  I don’t think the author done anything immoral by making Beyoncé perform with Murkrat.  But I do think that everyone involved in mashups — record companies, pop stars, doom goddesses and laptop tinkerers alike — would be in a better position ethically if we could figure out a way to make mashups legal.

5 Things That I've learned from the article:

1. Mashup — a song created by combining two or more different recordings.
2. A mashup doesn’t comment on works of art; it simply combines them.
3. The fact that artists often seem happy to ignore or even support mashups of their work suggests that the ethics of mashups can be even more complicated than the legal issues surrounding them. 
4. Artists will sometimes even deliberately use mashups as promotional tools.
5. There is no set means for mashed-up artists to receive a fee for their contribution to the mashups.

5 Integrative Questions

1. What would a legal, ethical mashup system look like?
2. Why what reasons mashups are almost never sold?
3. Why what reasons ethics of mashups can be even more complicated than the legal issues surrounding them?
4. What benefit the original artists can get from mash up?
5. Where can mash up be applied?