#Negativland

[ourladyofomega]

📷 source: Wax Trax! Records (FB)

[commiegoth]

Btw. I've been on a kick recently revisiting my hometown heroes, Negativland, and lately it seems like as good a time as ever to share their book "Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2"!

(Original illustration by @calware)

The book outlines the copyright infringement suits the band faced in response to their EP "U2", and more broadly argues in favor of protections for artists who use existing works in their own art. The book and accompanying CD is, of course, published copyright-free and is freely available to the public, though you can purchase a hard copy from the band if you want to support the remaining members. If you follow me because you're a Zapruder Films fan, if you've ever been curious about passing mentions of fair use protection or sampling/collage on here, or if you need arguments for why expanding copyright protections to "combat" AI will do nothing but hurt artists and expand the power of corporate monopolies, PLEASE consider checking this out!

[Link to purchase]

[Link to PDF of book]

[Link to CD audio]

(The CD is not an audiobook recording of the book, but instead includes "Dead Dog Records", a supplemental sound collage record on the subject of fair use and artistic appropriation, and an excerpt from an Over the Edge broadcast featuring "Crosley Bendix" (Don Joyce, r.i.p.) discussing the US Copyright Act.)

[sivavakkiyar]

Negativland

[ducksstab]

do u think ppl know i’m a nerd

[arconinternet]

The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T - The Lost Original Version (Script/Audio, Dr. Seuss & Roy Rowland, 1953)

Here's the wildly different original shooting script with many deleted scenes and songs, followed by the reshoot's opening.

Here's Negativland's remix of the film's soundtrack, which includes the film's many removed songs.

The images below are from lost scenes.

[dailyalbumrecs]

The World Will Decide - Negativland

Negativland's The World Will Decide is an excellent album that covers important topics of today's world surrounding technology. It mentions data collection, privacy, advertising, "content", and the terrors of modern technology in general. My favorite track is More Data.

Apple Music:

Bandcamp:

Spotify:

[studentofetherium]

i think everyone who cares about copyright should know this song, because in a way, this song is an important part of copyright history

prior to 1991, Negativland was mildly successful for an indie band. they were popular in culture jamming subculture for their eclectic brand of pop culture sound collages. however, despite their niche nature, several years prior, they made national news when it began to be reported that a teenager killed his parents with an ax after listening to their song Christianity is Stupid. this was a fabrication of the band, but no one bothered to check the story and it blew up anyway. this gave the band a new burst in popularity

in 1991, they decided to release a remix EP featuring a mix of U2's hit song, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For combined with a leaked profanity-laden rant by radio host Casey Kasem

due to the packaging, the band U2 claimed that it violated their copyright. the band wanted to fight this in court, as they claimed that this was under fair use, but rather than fight it, the band's label immediately stopped selling the EP and settled the issue

suffice to say, Negativland were pissed. they were already a group of commie pinkos who believed in an extreme approach to copyright, but this only further radicalized them. while copyright was a minor part of their ethos before the U2 incident, it quickly became one of their driving focuses. they spent the next two years trapped in a legal battle with their label that finally ended with their freedom, and once they were free, the band began focusing on copyright

while their first release after leaving their label was the appropriately named and themed Free, they would soon after release a book and accompanying album, Fair Use: The Story of the Letter U and the Numeral 2. the book detailed their lawsuits with U2 and their label as well as information about copyright and how the original release fell under fair use

over the last decade, with the rise of automated takedowns on websites such as youtube or twitch, copyright and fair use have become much more notable controversies for normal people. Negativland, as prescient as they ever were, beat the public to that thought by over two decades. this isn't exactly some big dramatic story that will completely change the way you look at copyright, but i recommend looking more into the U2 drama and Negativland in general if you want some insight into a band who was always three steps ahead of the rest of the world

[spaceintruderdetector]

Negativland /Michael Jackson

[taxi-davis]

Universal Media Netweb

[commiegoth]

I know it's easy to call Negativland "ahead of their time" given how much sampling/remixing has become a part of the internet culture at large, but it still feels like a massive understatement bc how were they making Roblox "oof" remixes in 1993?

[etherdiver]

Plunderphonic fun with Ether Diver

This is my attempt to do Negativland style plunderphonics, mixed with some modular noise making and a few chords. It's also been compared to Boards of Canada by others.

[z34l0t]

[ducksstab]

WOULD AN ADVERTISING EXECUTIVE UNDERSTAND WHERE THE HOMELESS LIVE WOULD HE KNOW ABOUT THE BUBBLES IN HIS GLASS WOULD THE BUBBLES IN HIS GLASS UNDERSTAND WHAT THE MANS GOLF CART IS DOES HE KNOW YOU CAN DIE FROZEN UNDERNEATH AN OVERPASS???

[arconinternet]

Over the Edge Radio (Audio, 1981 onward)

Over 1300 episodes of the radio show, from the 1980's to the 2010's. Plunge into the bizarre alternate universe of the Universal Media Netweb and paint the town not red, but squant. You can listen to it here.

[onryou-onryou]

Negativland - There Is No Planet