With all the SOPA hoopla that’s been going on recently, I felt that this week’s topics in the readings were very appropriate. When I read the Remix chapters and watched the RIP: A Remix Manifesto movie, one of the first things that popped into my mind was the Vanilla Ice and Queen argument over the “stolen” beat of “Under Pressure” for “Ice, Ice Baby.” I have added YouTube links to the clips of each of the songs below:

Queen’s “Under Pressure” —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a01QQZyl-_I

Vanilla Ice’s “Ice, Ice Baby” —> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rog8ou-ZepE&ob=av2e

Queen’s song came first. There was never an official law suit, but it’s believed that Ice paid off Queen to keep it out of the courts. The two songs are completely different, with different lyrics and meanings. The beats, however, are strikingly similar. So did Ice steal Queen’s “intellectual property?” Yes? No? Maybe so?

And then what about the remixes where the beats and things are perhaps less similar than the original? Where do we draw the line of what is considered plagiarism and what is not?

According to RIP, “artists build on the work that came before them.” This is exactly what remixers do. And any artist, for that matter. As humans, even, all of us are products of pieces of someone else; our parents, friends, complete strangers influence the people we become. If I start saying “fetch” like Gretchen from Mean Girls, does that mean I’ve stolen the intellectual property of Tina Fey, who wrote the screenplay?

It’s all very confusing. I don’t really know what side I’m on in the subject, either. I mean, I guess it would be annoying if someone stole your idea. But, everyone knows you did it first, and isn’t imitation the biggest form of flattery? Just something to think about.