Artistic Expression vs. Copyright Infringement

The Gregg Gillis Debate

By Diane Miller
Music Editor

As the future of music becomes developed before us, the issue of what is up for grabs without infringing on other artist’s legal work is going to continue to be a poignant factor for a songwriter to be aware of. Are we allowed to write and sell songs that have the same chord progression as another? Well, yeah…that is simply unavoidable. So exactly when is it understandable for one musician to start suing another musician for “stealing” their material without seeming like an uptight prude? One may be wondering that with artists as big as Girl Talk having taken samples of material from over 500 musicians.

For Gregg Gillis, front man of Girl Talk, to be granted permission to use each sample – 373 of them – from his last album “All Day”, it would cost millions of dollars; on top of that, it would take him probably his whole lifetime negotiating with so many different labels. To this day, he has never been sued and no one has told him stop. That is pretty huge, but that is not to say this issue hasn’t been brought to his attention by the media.

So if a musician were to get sued, what are some of the factors that would be taken into account to decide guilt or innocence? The fair use doctrine states that the public can have access to copyrighted material without permission on a limited basis; generally the less you take, the lesser the problem becomes. Another point to look at is if the new material is negatively impacting the sales of original. Fair use also means that the original work must be transformed in some sort of way that gives the work new meaning or interpretation.

So when looking at Girl Talk, an artist who takes nothing but copyrighted music, do these factor with his work? Considering the number of samples he uses in the amount of time that it is played, we know that he limits himself from what he takes from individual tracks. How about transformation of ideas? Stylistically, these original works that get used in a Girl Talk track do develop new character and ideas of sound; it is a style that would not have been thought up by the original artists. Restating the fact that no one has told him to stop or has sued him, that is a pretty good sign these artists he samples have not been negatively impacted by his work.

What if Gregg Gillis happens to be a monster of a person who is violent, voracious, and a drug addicted outlaw? Would that make a difference on whether people would sue him? You bet it would. Even if he follows fair use to the T but flubs on one small detail or becomes extremely acquisitive, he could easily become a target for people’s attack because some people straight up do not like what he does to original recordings. Many are opposed to Gillis, calling himself a musician. Instead, they see him as party leader who mixes together songs that anyone could pull together with the right technology and a lot of time on their hands.

These folks seem to make some legitimate arguments. I can openly say I don’t find my favorite hip hop artists rhyming over electric guitars playing power chords to be anywhere near as appealing as their own beats they create, but to give Gillis credit, not a lot of people have that widespread of a perspective of pop music. Not just anyone can do what he does. I can’t think of many people (myself excluded) who separately like Beck AND the Cali Swag District… and most people (myself included) who like Rage Against the Machine probably do not like Katy Perry. Goodness, if anyone could do it, at least he was man enough to do something about his ideas. Look where it got him! The show in Fargo was a total blowout if you missed it!

Gregg Gillis, as far as I know, is a pretty likable dude. Fans should not have to worry that he will be stopped from creating even more party popping hits. Haters inevitably come alongside any hugely successful artist. Whether you like his jams or not, you can expect to see a lot more of this style of music to come in the future, thanks in part to fair use and the demand of burgeoning fans.

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