Book Review: This is not a remix: piracy, authenticity and popular music

  • Margie Borschke

Press/Media: Research

Description

In this engaging, thought-provoking volume, Borschke (journalism and media, Macquarie Univ., Australia) uses popular music and its shift from analog to digital recording and distribution to explore the concept of copying. The author discusses copies as artifacts with material, cultural, and rhetorical functions, and persuasively argues against many contemporary discussions of copy that treat the subject too narrowly, often due to specific political agendas related to copyright. Borshcke traces Western thought regarding copying back to Plato and Socrates, and she critiques recent scholarship on remixing and remix culture that treats it as a primarily digital phenomenon. The author then uses this framework to explore analog practices such as the disco remix and digital practices including MP3 blogs. Borshcke’s analysis of copying and remixing as it relates to popular music is fascinating and original, and the value of this book extends to those with an interest in media studies, intellectual property, and copyright.

Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

  • Reviewer: B. A. Hunter, University of Idaho
  • Recommendation: Recommended
  • Readership Level: Upper-division Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Researchers/Faculty, Professionals/Practitioners
Period1 Jun 2018

Media coverage

1

Media coverage

  • TitleReview: This is not a remix: piracy, authenticity and popular music
    Degree of recognitionInternational
    Media name/outletChoice: publication of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association
    Media typeOther
    Duration/Length/Size223 words
    Country/TerritoryUnited States
    Date1/06/18
    DescriptionChoice Review #: 55-3530
    In this engaging, thought-provoking volume, Borschke (journalism and media, Macquarie Univ., Australia) uses popular music and its shift from analog to digital recording and distribution to explore the concept of copying. The author discusses copies as artifacts with material, cultural, and rhetorical functions, and persuasively argues against many contemporary discussions of copy that treat the subject too narrowly, often due to specific political agendas related to copyright. Borshcke traces Western thought regarding copying back to Plato and Socrates, and she critiques recent scholarship on remixing and remix culture that treats it as a primarily digital phenomenon. The author then uses this framework to explore analog practices such as the disco remix and digital practices including MP3 blogs. Borshcke’s analysis of copying and remixing as it relates to popular music is fascinating and original, and the value of this book extends to those with an interest in media studies, intellectual property, and copyright.

    Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals.

    Reviewer: B. A. Hunter, University of Idaho
    Recommendation: Recommended
    Readership Level: Upper-division Undergraduates, Graduate Students, Researchers/Faculty, Professionals/Practitioners
    Producer/AuthorB. A. Hunter, University of Idaho
    URLchoicereviews.org.simsrad.net.ocs.mq.edu.au/review/10.5860/CHOICE.207330
    PersonsMargie Borschke