The article Plunderphonia by Chris Cutler

The article Plunderphonia by Chris Cutler begin by speaking about issues concerning copyright in terms of music. Specifically it talks about one cd Plunderponic, a cd that was comprised of old hits modified with radically different techniques. These tracks were edited to the point where the songs had been given a new meaning. This cd was completely no profit, yet you saw artists such as Michael Jackson rising up and taking action against the cd, and inevitably seeing to its destruction. Cutler continues by saying “ a recording of a recording is just a recording. No more, no less.”. This EP was created with the intention of raising awareness of the copyright laws, yet we saw it crushed and swept under the rug.  The article as well discusses the history of art and how new art forms typically take a lot from older art forms they just have to tweak it a bit. It talks about the introduction of the readymade, and the correlation it has to recording in music. The article then goes on to discuss the invention of the recorder with Edison’s cylinder, which eventually lead to the tape which sparked the need recordings in everyday life. This article brings up issues in copyright specifically relating to music and recording, and it seems as if music drew the short stick. In every art form we see evidence of copying or borrowing, they don’t simply start from nothing. Yet this is what we seem to expect out of our music, you cant simply take an old song and make it original without being labeled a complete fake. You have to come up with completely original music with original lyrics and an original beat. It does seem that now in the 21^st century people are finally beginning to wake up and realize that we don’t need complete originality in our music, thus the introduction of scratching, mixing and rapping. The article discusses the idea of scratching where dj’s take two 12” disks and simultaneously play them thanks to a highly edited turntable.