In March at the Union League Club in New York, I was honoured to give a 15 minute talk as part of the OnCopyright 2010 conference held by Bill Burger. My jetlag was at its worst and I was shaking about like an old laundry machine, but even so, I’m happy with how it went, and I managed to see a great deal of New York before crunch time.

The Union League building sits majestically on the corner of Park Avenue and East 37th street. The interior was even more impressive - I’d estimate at least 80% of it was either wood or marble. I suddenly felt very important, and the next day, I certainly looked it. I had to rock up in business attire. I must have been the flyest looking DJ in the city. It was ammusing for a little while, but after that, it just reminded me that I don’t belong in the business world. I felt very much not myself. It was as if someone had held a mirror in front of me and said “Nick, you’re not happy with your desk job. Get the hell out of it.” On the up side, I’m sure my appearance only aided my speech and what I had to say about today’s music industry.

The conference went exceptionally well. Throughout my talk, I played excerpts from some of my most successful tracks. In proving my point that music is a vessel for evolving ideas and emotions, I also played some of HomeStarRunnerTron‘s ‘Upular Tribute’ and the ‘Alohomora Drum Cover’ from SevenBlueSkies. Both videos were very well received, and helped demonstrate that remix culture is all about interpretation, not theft. It seemed my work was a hot topic throughout the proceeding panel discussions, and there was no questioning that what I’ve created here is helping to shine a new light on the collision between music and copyright.

I’m very proud to have spoken for today’s remix culture. I’m happy to report that the general consensus across the panels was that this is more an ethical issue than a legal one. While no definitive conclusions or solutions were reached, the conference did provide an essential voice for some very interesting and diverse opinions from lawyers, entrepreneurs and artists alike. Many thanks to Bill Burger for putting together such a successful, educational and entertaining event. Indeed, the collision of ideas is a topic that must be discussed.

OnCopyright 2010 @ Flickr
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