TEDGlobal 2012
Kirby Ferguson: Embrace the remix
Filmed:
Readability: 4.4
1,488,573 views
Nothing is original, says Kirby Ferguson, creator of Everything is a Remix. From Bob Dylan to Steve Jobs, he says our most celebrated creators borrow, steal and transform.
Kirby Ferguson - Filmmaker and Remixer
Kirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where "everything is a remix." Full bio
Kirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where "everything is a remix." Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
00:16
We're going to begin in 1964.
0
758
3291
00:19
Bob Dylan is 23 years old, and his career
1
4049
2973
00:22
is just reaching its pinnacle.
2
7022
2161
00:25
He's been christened the voice of a generation,
3
9183
2441
00:27
and he's churning out classic songs
4
11624
2460
00:29
at a seemingly impossible rate,
5
14084
1963
00:31
but there's a small minority of dissenters, and they claim
6
16047
4451
00:36
that Bob Dylan is stealing other people's songs.
7
20498
3739
00:40
2004. Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse,
8
24237
4140
00:44
takes the Beatles' "White Album,"
9
28377
1913
00:46
combines it with Jay-Z's "The Black Album"
10
30290
1777
00:47
to create "The Grey Album."
11
32067
1824
00:49
"The Grey Album" becomes an immediate sensation online,
12
33891
1919
00:51
and the Beatles' record company sends out countless
13
35810
2760
00:54
cease-and-desist letters for "unfair competition
14
38570
3240
00:57
and dilution of our valuable property."
15
41810
3881
01:01
Now, "The Grey Album" is a remix.
16
45691
1992
01:03
It is new media created from old media.
17
47683
2397
01:05
It was made using these three techniques:
18
50080
2585
01:08
copy, transform and combine.
19
52665
3242
01:11
It's how you remix. You take existing songs,
20
55907
1922
01:13
you chop them up, you transform the pieces,
21
57829
1720
01:15
you combine them back together again,
22
59549
1840
01:17
and you've got a new song, but that new song
23
61389
1977
01:19
is clearly comprised of old songs.
24
63366
2734
01:22
But I think these aren't just the components of remixing.
25
66100
3313
01:25
I think these are the basic elements of all creativity.
26
69413
3044
01:28
I think everything is a remix,
27
72457
1811
01:30
and I think this is a better way to conceive of creativity.
28
74268
4691
01:34
All right, let's head back to 1964, and let's hear
29
78959
2993
01:37
where some of Dylan's early songs came from.
30
81952
3021
01:40
We'll do some side-by-side comparisons here.
31
84973
1877
01:42
All right, this first song you're going to hear
32
86850
1206
01:43
is "Nottamun Town." It's a traditional folk tune.
33
88056
2414
01:46
After that, you'll hear Dylan's "Masters of War."
34
90470
2581
01:48
Jean Ritchie: ♫ In Nottamun Town, not a soul would look out, ♫
35
93058
4900
01:53
♫ not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down. ♫
36
97958
6598
02:00
Bob Dylan: ♫ Come you masters of war, ♫
37
104556
4274
02:04
♫ you that build the big guns, you that build the death planes, ♫
38
108830
8605
02:13
♫ You that build all the bombs. ♫
39
117435
3069
02:16
Kirby Ferguson: Okay, so that's the same basic melody
40
120504
1922
02:18
and overall structure. This next one is "The Patriot Game,"
41
122426
3159
02:21
by Dominic Behan. Alongside that,
42
125585
1992
02:23
you're going to hear "With God on Our Side," by Dylan.
43
127577
2274
02:25
Dominic Behan: ♫ Come all ye young rebels, ♫
44
129851
5258
02:31
♫ and list while I sing, ♫
45
135109
4530
02:35
♫ for the love of one's land is a terrible thing. ♫
46
139639
8212
02:43
BD: ♫ Oh my name it is nothin', ♫
47
147851
5812
02:49
♫ my age it means less, ♫
48
153663
4528
02:54
♫ the country I come from is called the Midwest. ♫
49
158191
6819
03:00
KF: Okay, so in this case, Dylan admits
50
165010
1626
03:02
he must have heard "The Patriot Game," he forgot about it,
51
166636
2440
03:04
then when the song kind of bubbled back up
52
169076
1559
03:06
in his brain, he just thought it was his song.
53
170635
2311
03:08
Last one, this is "Who's Going To Buy You Ribbons,"
54
172946
1232
03:10
another traditional folk tune.
55
174178
1560
03:11
Alongside that is "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."
56
175738
2297
03:13
This one's more about the lyric.
57
178035
1825
03:15
Paul Clayton: ♫ It ain't no use to sit and sigh now, ♫
58
179860
6891
03:22
♫ darlin', and it ain't no use to sit and cry now. ♫
59
186751
7864
03:30
BD: ♫ It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe, ♫
60
194615
5945
03:36
♫ if you don't know by now, ♫
61
200560
3652
03:40
♫ and it ain't no use to sit and wonder why, babe, ♫
62
204212
5391
03:45
♫ it'll never do somehow. ♫
63
209603
2887
03:48
KF: Okay, now, there's a lot of these.
64
212490
2272
03:50
It's been estimated that two thirds of the melodies
65
214762
2014
03:52
Dylan used in his early songs were borrowed.
66
216776
2543
03:55
This is pretty typical among folk singers.
67
219319
1856
03:57
Here's the advice of Dylan's idol, Woody Guthrie.
68
221175
2363
03:59
"The worlds are the important thing.
69
223538
1530
04:00
Don't worry about tunes. Take a tune,
70
225068
1832
04:02
sing high when they sing low,
71
226900
1676
04:04
sing fast when they sing slow, and you've got a new tune."
72
228576
3208
04:07
(Laughter) (Applause)
73
231784
3997
04:11
And that's, that's what Guthrie did right here,
74
235781
1947
04:13
and I'm sure you all recognize the results.
75
237728
2607
04:16
(Music)
76
240335
5917
04:22
We know this tune, right? We know it?
77
246252
2395
04:24
Actually you don't.
78
248647
1413
04:25
That is "When the World's on Fire," a very old melody,
79
250060
2684
04:28
in this case performed by the Carter Family.
80
252744
2261
04:30
Guthrie adapted it into "This Land Is Your Land."
81
255005
2678
04:33
So, Bob Dylan, like all folk singers, he copied melodies,
82
257683
4320
04:37
he transformed them, he combined them with new lyrics
83
262003
2722
04:40
which were frequently their own concoction
84
264725
2397
04:43
of previous stuff.
85
267122
2261
04:45
Now, American copyright and patent laws run counter
86
269383
3663
04:48
to this notion that we build on the work of others.
87
273046
2723
04:51
Instead, these laws and laws around the world
88
275769
2667
04:54
use the rather awkward analogy of property.
89
278436
3722
04:58
Now, creative works may indeed be kind of like property,
90
282158
2443
05:00
but it's property that we're all building on,
91
284601
2309
05:02
and creations can only take root and grow
92
286910
2489
05:05
once that ground has been prepared.
93
289399
2716
05:08
Henry Ford once said, "I invented nothing new.
94
292115
2846
05:10
I simply assembled the discoveries of other men
95
294961
2003
05:12
behind whom were centuries of work.
96
296964
2587
05:15
Progress happens when all the factors that make for it
97
299551
2383
05:17
are ready and then it is inevitable."
98
301934
4030
05:21
2007. The iPhone makes it debut.
99
305964
4545
05:26
Apple undoubtedly brings this innovation to us early,
100
310509
2667
05:29
but its time was approaching because its core technology
101
313176
2497
05:31
had been evolving for decades.
102
315673
2046
05:33
That's multi-touch, controlling a device
103
317719
1982
05:35
by touching its display.
104
319701
1777
05:37
Here is Steve Jobs introducing multi-touch
105
321478
2419
05:39
and making a rather foreboding joke.
106
323897
2240
05:42
Steve Jobs: And we have invented a new technology
107
326137
2803
05:44
called multi-touch.
108
328940
2260
05:47
You can do multi-fingered gestures on it,
109
331200
2453
05:49
and boy have we patented it. (Laughter)
110
333653
3611
05:53
KF: Yes. And yet, here is multi-touch in action.
111
337264
4166
05:57
This is at TED, actually, about a year earlier.
112
341430
2021
05:59
This is Jeff Han, and, I mean, that's multi-touch.
113
343451
2468
06:01
It's the same animal, at least.
114
345919
1751
06:03
Let's hear what Jeff Han has to say about this
115
347670
1767
06:05
newfangled technology.
116
349437
1826
06:07
Jeff Han: Multi-touch sensing isn't anything --
117
351263
2168
06:09
isn't completely new. I mean, people like Bill Buxton
118
353431
2206
06:11
have been playing around with it in the '80s.
119
355637
1649
06:13
The technology, you know, isn't the most exciting thing here
120
357286
3199
06:16
right now other than probably its newfound accessibility.
121
360485
3062
06:19
KF: So he's pretty frank about it not being new.
122
363547
1933
06:21
So it's not multi-touch as a whole that's patented.
123
365480
2543
06:23
It's the small parts of it that are,
124
368023
2137
06:26
and it's in these small details where
125
370160
1304
06:27
we can clearly see patent law contradicting its intent:
126
371464
3118
06:30
to promote the progress of useful arts.
127
374582
3161
06:33
Here is the first ever slide-to-unlock.
128
377743
3184
06:36
That is all there is to it. Apple has patented this.
129
380927
2869
06:39
It's a 28-page software patent, but I will summarize
130
383796
2812
06:42
what it covers. Spoiler alert: Unlocking your phone
131
386608
3936
06:46
by sliding an icon with your finger. (Laughter)
132
390544
2937
06:49
I'm only exaggerating a little bit. It's a broad patent.
133
393481
3017
06:52
Now, can someone own this idea?
134
396498
2849
06:55
Now, back in the '80s, there were no software patents,
135
399347
2430
06:57
and it was Xerox that pioneered the graphical user interface.
136
401777
3161
07:00
What if they had patented pop-up menus,
137
404938
2918
07:03
scrollbars, the desktop with icons that look like folders
138
407856
4424
07:08
and sheets of paper?
139
412280
1987
07:10
Would a young and inexperienced Apple
140
414267
2349
07:12
have survived the legal assault from a much larger
141
416616
2869
07:15
and more mature company like Xerox?
142
419485
4080
07:19
Now, this idea that everything is a remix might sound
143
423565
2447
07:21
like common sense until you're the one getting remixed.
144
426012
4127
07:26
For example ...
145
430139
1650
07:27
SJ: I mean, Picasso had a saying.
146
431789
1239
07:28
He said, "Good artists copy. Great artists steal."
147
433028
3557
07:32
And we have, you know,
148
436585
2322
07:34
always been shameless about stealing great ideas.
149
438907
3128
07:37
KF: Okay, so that's in '96. Here's in 2010.
150
442035
1898
07:39
"I'm going to destroy Android because it's a stolen product."
151
443933
2909
07:42
(Laughter)
152
446842
1542
07:44
"I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this." (Laughter)
153
448384
3639
07:47
Okay, so in other words, great artists steal, but not from me.
154
452023
3504
07:51
(Laughter)
155
455527
2351
07:53
Now, behavioral economists might refer to this sort of thing as loss aversion
156
457878
3608
07:57
We have a strong predisposition towards protecting
157
461486
2219
07:59
what we feel is ours.
158
463705
1929
08:01
We have no such aversion towards copying
159
465634
1918
08:03
what other people have, because we do that nonstop.
160
467552
2733
08:06
So here's the sort of equation we're looking at.
161
470285
2475
08:08
We've got laws that fundamentally treat creative works as property,
162
472760
2657
08:11
plus massive rewards or settlements
163
475417
2785
08:14
in infringement cases, plus huge legal fees
164
478202
2197
08:16
to protect yourself in court,
165
480399
1663
08:17
plus cognitive biases against perceived loss.
166
482062
3504
08:21
And the sum looks like this.
167
485566
2143
08:23
That is the last four years of lawsuits
168
487709
2823
08:26
in the realm of smartphones.
169
490532
2566
08:28
Is this promoting the progress of useful arts?
170
493098
5771
08:34
1983. Bob Dylan is 42 years old, and his time
171
498869
5768
08:40
in the cultural spotlight is long since past.
172
504637
3326
08:43
He records a song called "Blind Willie McTell,"
173
507963
2609
08:46
named after the blues singer, and the song
174
510572
2186
08:48
is a voyage through the past, through a much darker time,
175
512758
3670
08:52
but a simpler one, a time when musicians like Willie McTell
176
516428
3150
08:55
had few illusions about what they did.
177
519578
2520
08:57
"I jump 'em from other writers
178
522098
2250
09:00
but I arrange 'em my own way."
179
524348
2565
09:02
I think this is mostly what we do.
180
526913
1717
09:04
Our creativity comes from without, not from within.
181
528630
3366
09:07
We are not self-made. We are dependent on one another,
182
531996
2921
09:10
and admitting this to ourselves isn't an embrace
183
534917
2825
09:13
of mediocrity and derivativeness.
184
537742
2834
09:16
It's a liberation from our misconceptions,
185
540576
2633
09:19
and it's an incentive to not expect so much from ourselves
186
543209
3083
09:22
and to simply begin.
187
546292
2735
09:24
Thank you so much. It was an honor to be here.
188
549027
2950
09:27
Thank you. (Applause)
189
551977
2777
09:30
Thank you. Thank you. (Applause)
190
554754
3384
09:34
Thank you. (Applause)
191
558138
3341
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kirby Ferguson - Filmmaker and RemixerKirby Ferguson explores creativity in a world where "everything is a remix."
Why you should listen
What's a remix? In Kirby Ferguson's view, any piece of art that contains a recognizable reference to another work--a quote from a lyric, a borrowed riff, a filmic homage. Which makes almost everything a remix, from a Led Zeppelin song to a classic film from George Lucas. His deeply researched and insanely fun four-part web series, "Everything Is a Remix," dives into the question: Is remixing a form of creativity, a production of the new on the shoulders of what precedes it, or is it just copying? He comes out firmly on the side of creativity, calling for protections for people who, with good intentions, weave together bits of existing culture into something fresh and relevant.
His next web series is called "This Is Not a Conspiracy Theory," an attempt to explore how US politics came to be the way they are.
Kirby Ferguson | Speaker | TED.com