Remix culture

Remix culture is a term employed by Lawrence Lessig and other copyright activists to describe a society which allows and encourages derivative works. Such a culture would be, by default, permissive of efforts to improve upon, change, integrate, or otherwise remix the work of copyright holders. Lessig presents this as a desirable ideal and argues, among other things, that the health, progress, and wealth creation of a culture is fundamentally tied to this participatory remix process.

Sampling in musicmaking is a prime example of reuse, and hip-hop culture's implicit acceptance of the practice makes it a remix culture.

This term is often contrasted with permission culture.

Lessig is now using the term 'Read/write culture' to refer to broadly the same thing and 'Read only culture' to refer to a permission based culture. He has been queried as to his reliance on a binary opposite rather than a spectrum of permissions but this he explains is his way to broadcast this message to a mainstream audience.

Author Ramsay Wood argues that the fables in The Panchatantra are the oldest known example of remix culture.

ee also

* Free Culture (book) by Lawrence Lessig

External links

* Video resources
** [http://www.archive.org/details/REMIXCULTUREpanel1 Remix Culture Symposium: Panel 1: Creative Commons Music]
** [http://www.archive.org/details/REMIXCULTUREpanel2 Remix Culture Symposium: Panel 2: Legal, Licensing and CC]
** [http://www.archive.org/details/REMIXCULTUREpanel3 Remix Culture Symposium: Panel 3: Creativity and the Commons]
* [http://www.totalrecut.com Total Recut]