Before Mr. Kilgour or Mr. Hogarth came in, I was very narrow-minded towards both copyright and piracy laws, as well as the remixing genre. However, thanks to the visits we had, I have now gained perspective on the difficulties Mr. Hogarth faces, and I know have realized that remixing wasn’t as simple as I had previously thought. These visits have given me perspective, and it has not only helped with my understanding of the remixing controversy, but also with my understanding of how remixes are made.
I have always been adamantly against copyright and pirating laws. I have always had the belief that file sharing online was equal to sharing a CD or a DVD in real life. So, when Mr. Hogarth came in, I started off a little biased against him. However, he was very well spoken, and brought up quite a few good points. For example, he told us a story of a female indie artist who had created a great album, which never reached the recognition it deserved due to the file sharing epidemic (“Within a few weeks, the song was downloaded 3 million times on file-sharing sites. She made $150,000. That wouldn’t even cover coffee at the recording studio.”). Despite Mr. Hogarth’s best arguments, I still believe that file sharing should be legal and I have remained against copyright and piracy laws. Mr. Hogarth did, however, help me gain some perspective, and helped me see acknowledge how difficult his job must be.
When Mr. Kilgour first came into our class, I had already come to the conclusion that remixing was reserved for those who couldn’t actually play music, and instead opted to mix other people’s talents. I held the belief that those who remixed shouldn’t be considered musicians; because they couldn’t actually play anything I considered to be an instrument. I now realize how blinkered of a belief that is. Thankfully, Mr. Kilgour was able to prove to me that remixing takes a legitimate amount of skill and it isn’t something that teenagers can just create in their basement. It takes a lot of legitimate talent and effort. On top of that, he also had valid points for the remixing controversy. For example, he brought up the point that, without remixing, there is no other way he could create this music (“I can’t afford a horn section, or a guitarist, or a singer … what other way could I make this music?”). I admit that I still don’t listen to remixing music, but thanks to Mr. Kilgour’s visit, I now have a better level of appreciation for the amount of effort that goes into these songs, which many people seem to enjoy.
