Remix Culture

Remix Culture, according to Eduardo Navas, is a term defined as "the global activity consisting of the creative and efficient exchange of information made possible by digital technologies that is supported by the practice of cut/copy and paste." The culture is based around the concept of the remixing, the activity of taking parts or "samples" of an original source and arranging them into new forms of media. The term “remix” usually refers to music remixing, but in recent times, the idea of the remix has pervaded into other forms of media as well, such as video and mass communications.

Sampling
A popular example of the cut/copy and pasting used in remixing comes in the form of sampling, which consists of cutting a piece of a musical recording and manipulating it into becoming a new song with other samples. This practice was created by remixers in New York City during the late 1960s and early 1970s using Jamaican music. The practice was then perfected by early hip-hop DJs. Today, many musicians of varying genres are known to practice sampling.

Remix Culture on the Internet
Websites such as Youtube, Wikipedia, Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, and Last.fm all contain examples of both remixes and communities that foster these remixes. On many of these websites, original work is posted by users that is open to parody, responses, and other remixes by other users. Also, because these websites are on the internet, they have to cater to internet audiences, meaning that the media they present must be short and concise enough to hold the attention of today's users. These concentrated pieces of media have become useful for use in remixing and sampling.

Fair Use
Remix Culture consists of remixers who may not always have permission from the original creators of the source material for a remix. This has sparked a conflict between the authors and corporations in control of copyrighted material and the remixers who use and desire to keep using this copyrighted material. However, the idea of fair use has protected many of the remixers from punishment. Fair use is the ability to use copyrighted material without paying or asking permission of the original author in certain situations. Those who claim fair use may not always be protected, though, as there is no concrete amount of a source material that is considered acceptable for fair use. It is up to the courts to decide what is fair use by looking at the purpose of the remix, the nature of the source material, the amount of the source material used, and the financial effect of the remix on the original source.