Framing – Remix

Most people don’t have a problem downloading music, movies, and software illegally off the internet. Why? Because its big business and corporate America. It doesn’t seem like the artists are really being affected by bootlegging, just the corporate middle-men, so we don’t care. As a content creator I do not want people to illegally use my work but I am conflicted at the same time because I do enjoy watching “remixed” videos on youtube like Buffy verses Edward. I would probably think it was cool if someone took my work and remixed it as long as it didn’t negatively affect me and they were not making money from it. Remixing does not seem to make much difference to the big shots in Hollywood but how does this phenomenon change things for the little guy?

The sharing economy does work in some ways (Wikipedia is everyone’s favorite example) but for some things it is not realistic. It would be great if I could give my work away for free all the time. If my work could be shared with everyone and expanded on but how would I pay my bills? Yes, we all belong to sharing economies in one way or another but leaning in this direction for only media does not work for the minor players. If I am going to work and create for free are the farmers going to give me food for free? No. So how do we create a balance in which professional media creators can make a living and also share?

The commercial economy has worked well in the entertainment realm. I am a huge fan of Amazon, Google, and Netflix. How could journalism outlets use this model to keep “newspapers” alive. If people are willing to pay $36 a year for no ads and unlimited music on Pandora would they be willing to do the same for news?

Tags: framing