
Remixing and mashups have officially hit the mainstream. No longer do you have to scour the internet for the latest homemade track, you can just turn on primetime television.
Rupert Murdoch owned FOX is home to “Glee”, the hit show about a high school glee club. The students are given weekly assignments that regularly result in mashups and remixes, never with the mention of copyright laws. With current copyright laws as they are, the Glee kids’ production budget would also have to include a lawyer on retainer.
Without a compulsory license (aka the license needed to record and distribute a cover of a previous work), the almost exact copy of Madonna’s “Vogue” performed by Sue Sylvester would have cost the kids up to $150,000. A few of the kids posting Sue dancing to Olivia Newton John’s “Physical” would cost them up to $300,000. And let’s not forget about the mashups, for which there are no compulsory licenses available, well each one would cost $150,000 for each song used.
The show, while turning people onto the direction music is taking, neglects to even mention copyright laws. While the show may take place in LaLa Land, it would make for interesting commentary to mention the fact that any normal glee club doing what Glee does would risk lengthy court battles and high fines. Or even better, attempt to the current laws in an episode.