Remixing - CM #15
The curation format experiencing an explosive new renaissance should be worth greater attention by those exploring how to monetize by re-arranging existing media content.
Hello and welcome.
The focus of this issue is on an often overlooked content curation format: remixes.
Remixing, which whether you realize it or not, surround you across media types and have fed your cultural profile across decades, are not only here to stay, but - in my view - are going to explode in quantity, styles and genres in the coming years.
The prejudice is that remixing requires lots of skills and experience. But that’s equally true for any art or craftmanship form worth of its name.
On the other hand on YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and elsewhere thousands of new remixes are published daily while the quantity of re-usable content and tools to remix it have been rapidly
Remixes are both an art and communication format that makes it easy to share ideas, concepts and values through culturally shared memes and stereotypes.
Looking at them with an eye of curiosity and exploration desire may bring good fruits to those investing in them, now that the times, access to the content and the tools are rapidly changing.
Robin Good
In this issue:
Key Curation Insights
Remixing Defined
Remixing Is a Dialogue
Nothing Is Original
Hollywood Feeds on Remixes
Remixing Is Cultural Language Learning
Art Cannot Be Created
Evolution Is Copying and Remixing
Curation Trends
Remixing
Tools (for Premium subscribers only)
Remixing Tools (10)
Real-World Examples (for Premium subscribers only)
Catalog of Best Online Courses
Toolkit & Planning Guide for Startups Founders
Showcase of Emerging Short Films
Key Curation Insights
1) Remixing Defined
“To combine or edit existing materials to create something new.”
Source: Kirby Ferguson - Everything Is a Remix
Remix involves changing, blending, adding to, or taking away from existing media to create something new.
Often remix is associated with music, as in the process of taking a radio song and remixing it for a nightclub or remixing a country song for a pop music radio station.
Source: LumenLearning
2) Remixing Is a Dialogue
In a broader sense, remixing, referencing and reinterpreting previous creative works allows artists to engage in an ongoing cultural dialogue: it is an inherent feature in the way art, technology and society continues to evolve.
Source: Remixology - “The Rise of Remix Culture”
3) Nothing Is Original
Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination.
Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows.
Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul.
If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic.
Authenticity is invaluable; originality is non-existent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery - celebrate it if you feel like it.
In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from - it’s where you take them to."
Source: Jim Jarmusch - MovieMaker Magazine #53 - Winter, January 22, 2004
4) Hollywood Feeds on Remixes
“Hollywood heavily relies on existing material to create box-office hits. Out of the top 10 highest-grossing films of the past decade, 74 out of 100 are sequels or adaptations from comics, video games, books, etc. Hollywood's greatest talent is to transform old material into something new. Even genre films like sci-fi have specific conventions that are subverted or appropriated from other films, books, events, and more.“
Source: Kirby Feguson - Everything Is a Remix - Part 1
5) Remixing Is Cultural Language Learning
Everything we create is a remix of existing creations and copying is integral to the creative process because it allows us to learn and become fluent in the language of our domain.
6) Art Cannot Be Created
“Art cannot be created or destroyed — only remixed.”
Source: Kirby Ferguson - TED Talks
7) Evolution Is Copying and Remixing
“James Turrell took inspiration from astronomy and perceptual psychology.
Coco Chanel was most influenced by nuns and religious symbols.
David Adjaye drew from Yoruban sculpture, and Steve Jobs from Zen Buddhism and calligraphy.
We could continue this list forever, but that’s not the point.
The point is to look outside the confines of our industry toward what makes us feel in the world around us, and ask ourselves why.”
Source: The Browser Company - “Optimizing for Feelings”
Counterpoint:
“if remixing art means you’re not an artist, then we would have to dismiss the following figures from advancing art and culture:
1) Andy Warhol,
2) Roy Lichtenstein,
3) Mel Ramos,
4) basically the entire Pop Art cadre of artists in the mid-late 1950s
5) Tom Wesselman,
6) April Greiman,
7) Robert Rauschenberg,
8) Joseph Cornell
9) Marcel Duchamp
10) Jeff Koons
11) Damian Hirst
12) Tracy Emin
13) Jake & Dinos Chapman
14) much of the Avante-Garde movement
15) almost all of the deconstructionist
16) Larry Rivers (copy of a commercial copy of a masterpiece)
17) John Baldessari
You also talk about “cultural evolution” as opposed to “copying” and “remixing”. I’m not sure you understand what evolution is.
Evolution is literally copying and remixing.”
Source: Jim the AI Whisperer - Counterpoint
Curation Trends
Remixing
Remix: a non-linear re-interpretation of a given work or media. The process of combining and re-contextualizing.
Remixing may appear difficult, requiring artistic and technical skills only a few have.
And indeed, up to this day it may have been, like any other art or discipline, reserved to the most passionate and dedicated scholars.
But it looks to me unlikely that in the near future this is going to remain the same.
a) We have access to more and more content
b) We have an increasing number of tools, that can generate new content
c) These tools are getting easier to use and cheaper by the day
I believe that there’s value in the art of remixing over the current relentless pursuit of novelty on mainstream news and all major social media platforms.
In an era marked by rapid technological evolution and information saturation, the discerning eye should be able to easily recognize that innovation doesn't always reside in the creation of new stuff.
Though I admittedly do not like ephemeral media (content that disappears to create scarcity and urge to watch) I must admit that for those who are not so critical and selective in their selection of media consumption, disappearing content and homemade remixes have been a roaring success.
Look at TikTok clips. Instagram reels. YouTube shorts.
Checkout any playlist of new house music tracks, and (if you are 50+ years old), you’ll recognize that most are remixes of melodies and riffs that were created a long time ago.
In the same year that YouTube came to be (2005), I invested time and resources to create an experimental web project that invited those to wanted to remix and sing their favorite songs in a public video hub to do so.
Why is remixing important for entrepreneurs looking into monetizing content curation?
Remixing is a curated content format that more and more authors are going to use to express themselves, educate or entertain others.
To explore the story of this genre and to better understand how everything is a remix it is o tremendous value to those who want to be ahead of most on this front.
Exploring and experimenting in this direction may be indeed a very valuable investment to make for those who want to differentiate themselves by creating unique value through existing artifacts.
The greater opportunity, beyond the format originality, lies in the fact that any set of resources, collection, library, catalog or bundle can be infinitely remixed and re-assembled to better the serve of the specific audience and needs it wants to help/support/guide.
A catalog of sports cars for rich automobile lovers, can be remixed into a specific list of the most precious and elegant colors used by those luxury car makers.
A library of training videos on kite-surfing can be remixed into a series of background atmosphere-creation slow-motion videos.
A curated chart of the top house tracks for this month, can be remixed into a funky playlist featuring only instrumental and brass-rich songs under 120 BPM.
It doesn’t have to be art to be remixed. Even outside the art world, there are ample opportunities for creating value and to innovate opening up for those, writing, analyzing, reporting, creating, who take remixing into serious consideration.
Whatever collection of resources, ideas, tools or sounds can be remixed to serve a different purpose and audience than the original one it was conceived for.
What is of value is defined by the recipient needs and wants, not by an intrinsic value of the object/artifact itself.
Here’s the stance of the entrepreneur curator: “What can I remix out of this that is of higher value for me and/or for my audience?” rather than “Oh f…ck somebody has already done this. Let me find another idea.”
Robin Good
Remix Examples
Here a short selection of remix examples to learn, understand and be inspired by what others have done.
2014 Danthology - by Daniel Kim - first minute and twenty-six seconds of a longer remix of the top songs for 2014. Notice how 68 different songs can be made into one harmonious new piece.
Pogo - Famous Walt Disney movies soundtracks remixed into new songs.
DJ Steve Porter Sportsremixes - Remixes of speeches by famous athletes
into songs.
Supercuts
What Is a Supercut
“A fast-paced montage of short video clips that obsessively isolates a single element from its source, usually a word, phrase, or cliche from film and TV. Supercut.org collects every known example of the video remix meme.”
Supercut.org
Site dedicated to documenting the cultural phenomenon in a clean, browsable index that anyone can contribute to created by Andy Baio and Michael Bell-Smith.
Supercut example lasting less than a minute. It showcases a compilation of unique profiles shots from different Tarantino movies remixed in rhythmic with a drumming crescendo.
.
Kirby Ferguson - Everything Is a Remix - Part I - video documentary series exploring in depth the history, practice and ideas behind remixing.
and if you wonder: “Where Do I Find Good Content To Remix?”
get this:
*The Content Finder Toolkit* Available Now - 100% free
Good news.
I have just made public the Content Finder Toolkit, under a 100% free Creative Commons License.
The CFT contains over 500 vetted resources and apps to find any kind of content (from icons to films - and most of the time at zero cost). It is directed in particular to those who are looking or content that they can re-use in their work.
This toolkit is the fruit of many days of work and it includes a one-of-a-kind, unique collection of tools and apps to find:
News
Newsletters
Discussions
Trends
Images
Videos
Icons
Cutouts
Sounds
Music
Podcasts
Books
Quotes
Documentaries
Alternative Search Engines
plus Public Data Sets and Open Academic Resources (OER)
Get it here.
…and if you find it useful, please leave a review on Product Hunt to help others find it
N.B.: on Product Hunt (PH) reviews allow tools launched on product hunt to become visible to those searching for them. Right now if I search for a content discovery tool on PH I have no way of finding this toolkit.
Curation Tools & Resources
(for Premium subscribers)
In this issue:
Remixing Tools
(10 interesting apps)
Curation Monetized: Real World Examples
(for Premium subscribers)
Catalog of Best Online Courses
Toolkit & Planning Guide for Startups Founders
Showcase of Emerging Short Films