Girl Talk: Criminal or Artist?

Lets be honest for one moment. With technology advancements, downloading music or movies is one click away. And whilst most individuals are aware that it is illegal, some seem to have the perception that because millions do it, they are not criminals or will never be caught. 

Of course this leads to the next argument in terms of piracy : devaluation or validation?

When researching devaluation you will find three words pop up over and over again- Pirate, Criminal and Thief.  This is due to the fact that some observers  ‘think sharing of proprietary music files is an injustice: they see it as illegal and an attack on artists or on an industry that serves artists and listeners’ (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010). In terms of the music industry, the approach of devaluation is often used to decrease the status of the person involved or to ‘dehumanise’ them (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010).

On the other hand, validation is employed to ‘raise the status of the person involved' (Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010). They become humanized and become the complete opposite to how we sterotype criminals. 

So, lets take a look at Girl Talk, a prime example of validation within the music industry.

(Image sourced from Forbes Interview)

Gregg Gillis, creator of Girl Talk, composes mashups and samples of other musicians. Gillis experimentation allows listeners to decipher the musicians and samples within his songs and becomes somewhat of a name game.  Whilst other musicians pay other artists to use their music/pay a licensing fee, this is something Gillis does not do. So it begs the question, is Gillis a criminal and why hasn’t he been charged yet?

Is it because the music industry and established artists are not threatened by one man simply creating music in his room on his laptop?

It should also be noted, that no artists that have been sampled by the famous Girl Talk has complained.

So what does Gilles think about copyright? In an interview conducted by Forbes (2012) Gillis revealed he employs a Fair Use argument to tacle this issue head on.

‘I basically believe in that idea [of Fair Use], that if you create something out of pre-existing media, that’s transformative, that’s not negatively impacting the potential sales of the artist you’re sampling, if it’s not hurting them in some way, then you should be allowed to make your art and put it out there’ (Gilles cited in Kosner 2012).

Gillis does not simply layer one sample over another, he shifts the pitch and exstensively edits each sample so that it is not the same as the original sample.

In the above clip, Gillies addresses the idea of borrowing intellectual property and even mentions Kings of Leons and their use of rock elements from the past. He believes mashups will become more common and that as soon as we become influenced by something we begin to build upon that idea.   

In the video below, Gillis has credited all artists on his album in the cover and states ‘I did my own work, but I owe them all the credit because they’re blatantly on the album.’

What do you think? Is Gregg Gillis a criminal or simply a man trying to create transformative art?

Until next time......

References (and Image):

Kosner, A 2012, Girl Talk's Gregg Gillis on Copyright, Curation and making Mashups Rhyme, Forbes, retrieved 8th August 2013, http://www.forbes.com/sites/anthonykosner/2012/10/07/girl-talks-gregg-gillis-on-copyright-curation-and-making-mashups-rhyme/

Martin, B, Moore, C and Salter, C. 2010, ‘Sharing music files: tactics of a challenge to the industry’, First Monday, vol. 15, no. 12, retrieved 8th August 2013, http://firstmonday.org/htbin/cgiwrap/bin/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/2986/2680].

Videos:

Good Copy Bady Copy: Interview with Girl Talk 2008, YouTube, Good Copy Bad Copy, 6th December, retrieved 8th August 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ohGc_ukF34

Talk: Everyone Borrows Intellectual Property, eva Kings of Leon 2008, YouTube, Uncensored Interview, 22 September, retrieved 8th August 2013, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQfHTHb2_Wg