Giving life to new music and the rebirth of older tracks!
Asheville (The Oh Hello’s vs. Dead Prez vs…) – Mitch-Mash
So I’m not sure how many people saw the twitter thread about Hardwell who was given grief for releasing mashups ‘for free’ for Facebook likes by Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Eric Prydz. But it reminded me about why I enjoy mashups so much. I mentioned to DJ Burnout on his post about it that mashups are a great way to expose people to multiple songs at one time. It gives a variety of artists exposure in a short amount of time. Could it be that some of these artists are as popular as they are due to some of the mashups and bootlegs they are in? They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Why can’t artists be happy that DJs enjoy their music so much that they want to give their own interpretation of it? Hardwell’s gimmick is his Facebook account, it’s a part of one of his songs; plus he’s not the first to lead people to his account for an exchange of Likes for a Free Download – I see DJs who do that all the time. I think it’s a creative way to market your account; let’s face it, people will go where the incentives are, they want something for their Likes nowadays.
The perfect example as of last night with discovery through mashups for me is Mitch-Mash’s new mashup Asheville. It starts with Hello My Old Heart by The Oh Hello’s; a single I have never heard before, but I looked it up and have probably listened to it 20 times since. That is a song that I might not have otherwise found and I would have missed out on a great song. Mitch-Mash has exposed me to it, so he gets the credit. Asheville gives the listener a chance to enjoy 7 different samples at one time, he made a mega mashup featuring The Oh Hello’s, The Ying Yang Twins, Dead Prez, Lil Jon featuring Three 6 Mafia, Snoop Dog featuring Pharrell, Currency featuring Lil Wayne & Remy Ma, and Miner.
As long as we’re talking about mega mashups, you also need to hear the bootleg by t.ski called Crank Dat House. This one also includes 7 different samples including: Afrojack, Soulja Boy, Black Eyed Peas, Pitbull, JLo, C+C Music Factory, and Krewella. Granted this song has more of the familiar to me, but it is a new interpretation to all seven artists by t.ski that enables the listener to also have a new experience with the songs.
Ultimately, I don’t see what the big issue is; if you get more exposure, people will be more inclined to see you perform live. This just reminds me of the days when Napster came out and bands complained about how they can’t make money from album sales anymore. That issue is long gone and musicians discovered that they need to perform to make money. If you don’t perform you’re not going to make as much money. Now we have Producers complaining, it’s the same issue but now we have new players in the game.
