DRM's Demon Days

摘要

When I first heard Demon Days, the recently released second album by virtual band Gorillaz, I marveled at its originality—for about three songs. Then I was overwhelmed by an incredible sense of deja vu (or ecoute, as the case may be). After a few spins, I realized the disc is both: completely derivative and stunningly original. Stanford Law School professor Lawrence Lessig would argue that this is just another example of our "cut and paste culture" (from his free book Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down and Control Creativity). Upside: creative and intellectual output that stands high on the shoulders of others, greater than the sum of its parts and all that. Downside: derivative drivel and outright thievery. Most EContent readers probably remember music before sampling, but any who listened closely heard ripped riffs and reminiscent phrases. In literature classes, it is sometimes referred to as referencing—picking up a character or theme from another's work and building upon it in your own. Mike Myers has even put together a deal with DreamWorks to take existing films and alter them to include Myers and other actors and insert new plots or alternate endings in what they call "film sampling."