The emergence and historical decay of the mash up. Issue 4 (19th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fairchild, Charles
• Is Part Of: Journal of popular music studies. Volume 29:Issue 4(2017)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2017-12-19
• Subjects: Popular music -- History and criticism -- Periodicals; Popular music -- Periodicals; 781.6305
• DOI: 10.1111/jpms.12246
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1524-2226

Abstract

Abstract: The mash up has descended dramatically from the once dizzy heights of prominence it enjoyed at the turn of the 21st century. For a form that once attracted a great deal of attention from a fair number of music journalists and academics alike, its comparative lack of visibility is striking. However, I argue here that this decay is not due its decreasing relevance, but its absorption into an increasingly expansive, pervasive musical tradition, the tradition of sample‐based music. The purpose of this article is to show how the historical assessment of mash up remains too tightly tethered to an intellectual tradition that posits its rebellious subversion of the dominant regime of intellectual property in the music industry as its primary fount of meaning. Therefore, as the intensity surrounding issues of intellectual property and piracy have faded, so has the seeming relevance this musical form. However, I suggest that if we look at this form from within its tradition of musical practice, we can understand its particular band of relevance and influence on contemporary sample‐based music more completely.