SINCE THE 1990S, dancehall remixes have been a more or less permanent fixture in our sessions.
Some are forgotten the minute they stop playing, while others linger in our heads for years. Although they make lasting impressions on our minds, one wonders sometimes if it was worth the effort by the creators who made them.
The feeling is no doubt great when producers hear their remixes exploding in the dancehalls and people are responding favourably to them. One would think that if they made these remixes official, packaged them, and sold them, then people would be lining up at the stores to buy them. Not so.
With emerging technology, these remixes can be created in little time with a few clicks of a computer mouse. A look at the costs and red tape involved in making the commercia,l however, would deter most hopefuls.
Dr Dre, selector and producer of the Rennaissance sound system admits that creating a re-mix has come a long way, and is a simple thing to do now. "Right now with these computer programmes makes it too easy to do. You don't even have to know anything about music," he explains.
Past history
This, he adds, is a far reality from back in the 90s when they were making Rennaissance's much talked about remix which featured Bounty Killer and Beenie Man tunes fused into one. He told THE STAR that they did that with a four track machine, careful planning, and knowing what they wanted.
He adds, however, that making remixes are worthwhile only for recreation, due to the tedious procedures and costs involved in making them.
"It is not profitable, unless you as a producer made the production before, then went on to remix some of it," he cautions. These he says comes from the procedure involved in making a remix.
"To use the artistes' material you need special permission and clearances from them, and whoever produced it you need clearances from as well, and their record companies too."
This point is shared by radio disc jockey Colin Hinds. "You can't just use someone's work and do a re-mix, you have to get commissioned to do it. Whatever you make depends on the deal you strike with them. It is not for you to just get up and produce one," he notes.
As if those factors alone were not deterrents, the fines for breaching copyright laws are.
Based on Intellectual property laws, sampling people's recordings without proper clearances is considered as larceny. Once convicted on larceny charges, the consequences lead to varying fines and/or imprisonment.
