Chapter 5 - Select, remix, mashup

Summary

DJs have come a long way from being selectors of music to creating new music from those selections. In this chapter we look at the rise of DJ practice and some of its practical implications. We also consider some technical points before briefly discussing the sticky issue of copyright and an alternative represented by the Creative Commons permissions scheme.

The question of the Deejay

‘You take something hip, and you hop on it’

Nile Rodgers

Although people who select and play records (or CDs!) have been around since radio began, the DJ as musician is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the ’70s, the radio DJ was like a guru. You followed their programming avidly because they introduced you to new music that was cool, stylish and interesting. It had nothing to do, as one would tend to associate today with the term ‘DJ’, with dance music. Famous American DJs, like Alan Freed in the ’50s (who popularised rock & roll and helped introduce black R&B to white audiences) or Wolfman Jack in the ’60s and ’70s, were arbiters of musical taste. It was not until perhaps the ’80s, really, that radio DJs became more like simple voice-over artists tying together the song rotation imposed by radio executives.