Brown University

Mashnography: Creativity, Consumption, and Copyright in the Mashup Community

Description

Abstract:
This dissertation is the first ethnographic study of mashups and the mashup community. I have tried to represent the music and its makers on their own terms in hopes of fostering a sense of understanding and respect. In addition to documenting an important genre of popular music and highlighting the stories and opinions of a vibrant community of producers and fans, I advance several important arguments concerning the production and reception of contemporary popular music. Additionally, I argue that web-based communities are emergent and that current theorizing about community form and function needs to incorporate the insights that can be gained by looking at models like the mashup community. I reframe the commonly accepted notion that the act of remixing is a form of resistance, and demonstrate how ethnographic insights provide a level of nuance that is often missing from studies of popular music and popular culture. I also argue that, in an effort to negotiate the troubled relationship between mashups and copyright, mashup producers have developed an alternative set of rules about authorship and authentic artistic production.
Notes:
Thesis (Ph.D. -- Brown University (2010)

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Collection is open for research.

Citation

McGranahan, Liam R., "Mashnography: Creativity, Consumption, and Copyright in the Mashup Community" (2010). Ethnomusicology Theses and Dissertations. Brown Digital Repository. Brown University Library. https://doi.org/10.7301/Z0GF0RRV

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