Panel: Music and New Media

As has always happened in the past, a new age of music has emerged from the new generation. This new style of music that has been striving as of recent years is often referred to as ‘DJ match ups’. It has grown popular throughout college campuses, at small clubs and venues throughout the united states and has even taken a roll at music and arts festivals throughout America. These artists gather an enormous range of music, from present hits, to old time classics, and mix and ‘match’ bits and pieces of all sorts of different songs together to create their own tracks. Often times, a beat is created by the artist and used as the back track to their match ups. These artists are great for parties where girls and guys alike can hear the bits and pieces from their favorite songs mixed into one track, and also great for raves, and just general raging as many of these artists place a great emphasis on the beat behind the match ups because it is the part of the track that they actually created, though electronically. However, one may wonder just how legal it is, according to copyright laws, for new artists to use parts of others music to create their own material and gather a following and be profitable. Many people do not think this should be legal, but the panelists, particularly the lawyer, pointed out that copyright laws are in place to encourage and boost creativity, and these artists are being creative. They are using other people’s music, but they are using it in their own light, to create a completely different sound and for a completely different audience.

Another point raised in the panel’s discussion was that of electronically downloaded music and the pros and cons that downloaded music has on the music industry. Before it was made illegal to download music online, people were able to share their favorite music and allow people everywhere to share in its enjoyment. Although this did have an effect on album sales, word on different bands was spreading more rapidly as people of all income levels had the means to listen to all sorts of music with the simple use of the internet. Many bands and members of the music industry saw it as an opportunity to gather fame and a stronger fan base. The panelist involved in the music production industry says he hoped and still hopes that the industry will find ways of profiting and succeeding because of the availability of music online. There are nevertheless downsides to being able to download music online. People that had gathered great collections of music from personal recordings, buying albums, or trading and had a collection worth considerable amounts of money, no longer have a collection of significant worth as anybody can find the music they have online for download. Also, as mentioned before, artist album sales have dropped and cd stores no longer make what they used too. However, with all good comes some bad, and they panelists felt there was more opportunity to be gained then lost.