Copyright's been annoying me a lot lately, in a very particular way: Canada seems to be getting screwed when it comes to media access. If the internet is founded on a premise of being able to access all available information, it then becomes that little bit extra irritating every time that you try to read some post or follow some link only to be brought up short by a message that the content can't be viewed in Canada.
What got me thinking about it was a comment by the remixers who created that Robyn video from a few days ago - A remix, it must be stressed, made with the blessing of the original artist. At the original Youtube posting, people were asking about the possibility of buying the remix, but the remixers commented that it's up to the artist - well---
Q [Gella21] : So then you've decided to drop the mthrfckrs part of your name? Also, when is Be Mine coming out on vinyl???
A [ocelotmthrkckr] : yes we decided it was a cleaner branding job to just do ocelot and also we would be fighting an uphill battle to radio, distributors and stores to carry our records. i dont think our version is going to be on vinyl in the end i think the robyn camp decided ours would go on a cd or maybe just digital. the downside of remixing is that once you turn a track in you rarely get a copy of the finished product. and living in america makes it increasingly difficult to acquire them.
"living in america", indeed. If you go to the Robyn website, it splits off into a site for North America (splayed over an American Flag, no less), and one for the rest of the world. One of them has lots of information (at least), and the other barely has a store, which dumps you on iTunes. Guess which is which? I suppose it's a step up from the old days of import versions, but just barely.
And as the walls go up around the US, where does that leave us? Scrabbling on the outside, peering in at clips from US shows that redirect us to their crippled Canadian counterparts?
And that's not even getting into the really ominous news from today:
Copyright crazies gaining steam in Canada.
And yet, on the other hand, this week I came across (via Beaucoup Kevin) something so impressive as to beggar description: a remixed hour long history of sampled music called "Raiding The Twentieth Century", put together by DJ Food originally for XFM's 'The Remix' show in London, in 2004. The MP3 is an incredible listening experience, and if you doubt it check out the track listing:
Link
So yeah. Fascists, Anarchists. 21st century style. I think I'll be revisiting this one.
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