Creative Commons Remix Contest

international | arts and media | press release Saturday February 25, 2006 20:50 by Sean Dunne

Copyright Criminals Remix Contest extended; New Chuck D and George
Clinton samples added

Great news for all you producers, DJs, and remixers: the Copyright
Criminals Remix Contest over at ccMixter has been extended by two
weeks, ending on March 14. Additionally, new vocal samples from
influential rapper Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and pioneering funk
musician George Clinton (of Parliament-Funkadelic) have been made
available for use in the competition.

More details below:

COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS REMIX CONTEST EXTENDED UNTIL MARCH 14

New Vocal Samples from Chuck D and George Clinton Made Available for
Use
San Francisco, CA, USA – February 15, 2006

Creative Commons, along with filmmakers Kembrew McLeod and Ben
Franzen,
today announced that due to overwhelmingly positive response, the
Copyright Criminals Remix Contest has been extended by two weeks,
ending on March 14. Additionally, new vocal samples from influential
rapper Chuck D (of Public Enemy) and pioneering funk musician George
Clinton (of Parliament-Funkadelic) have been made available for use in the competition.

Winners will be chosen according to the same criteria as originally
announced; no other contest details are changed.

The Copyright Criminals Remix Contest encourages producers, DJs, and
remixers from around the world to use audio snippets from the upcoming
documentary film Copyright Criminals in new, original songs. One
winner
will have his/her music featured prominently in the final edit of
Copyright Criminals. The winning track, along with 11 runners-up, will
be included on the film's companion CD. The contest is going on now at
http://ccmixter.org/.

Drawing from more than fifty interviews with prominent musicians,
artists, scholars, lawyers, and music industry representatives,
Copyright Criminals looks at the development of sound collage (also
known as sampling). The film explores the complicated impact that
copyright law has had on the creative practice of sampling and studies
the conflicting opinions artists and others have about appropriation.

Samples of dialogue by artists like De La Soul, DJ Qbert, Matmos,
Coldcut, and members of Negativland – all taken from interviews
conducted for Copyright Criminals – are available online at the
popular
remix community ccMixter.org for use as source material to be included
in entrants' songs. Entries will be judged by McLeod, Franzen, and
author/producer Jeff Chang. Contest rules and details are available at
http://ccmixter.org.

About the judges

Kembrew McLeod is a professor at the University of Iowa and an
award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. McLeod has written
music criticism for Rolling Stone, the Village Voice, and MOJO; and
has
authored two books, most recently Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous
Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity (Doubleday).

Ben Franzen is an Atlanta-based artist who owns an independent
production company called Changing Images LLC, which specializes in
video, photography, and multimedia. Franzen edits the animated TV
program Squidbillies, which appears as part of the Cartoon Network’s
Adult Swim line-up.

Jeff Chang is the author of the American Book Award-winning Can't Stop
Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. In 1993, he
co-founded
and ran the influential indie hip-hop label, SoleSides (now called
Quannum Projects), helping launch the careers of DJ Shadow,
Blackalicious, Lyrics Born, and Lateef the Truth Speaker. He has
helped
produce over a dozen records.

About Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that promotes the
creative
re-use of intellectual and artistic works by empowering authors and
audiences. It is sustained by the generous support of the Center for
the Public Domain, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation,
the Omidyar Network, and the Hewlett Foundation. For more information,
visit CC's Web site.

Contact:

Eric Steuer
Creative Director, Creative Commons
[email protected]

Kembrew McLeod
Co-director, Copyright Criminals
[email protected]
Press Kit: http://creativecommons.org/presskit