Wired’s “Rip. Sample. Mash. Share.” Yeah, Right!

Hmmm, The November 2004 issue of Wired has the goods on the notion of “Rip-Mix-Feed” line of thought.

The magazine includes an audio CD with music specifically with Creative Commons licenses for ripping and mixing, and even a few are further licensed for sampling and commercial use. I’ve yet to listen to it (maybe on the flight home from NZ), and most of the artists sound like they may hurt my 1960s rock and roll ears, but the concept rocks. Literally.

At root, sharing and stealing music start from the same impulse: Cribbing is creation. Building on what other musicians have done – with or without their blessing or collaboration – is what it takes to make new music, music that will delight and sustain people. That, after all, is why it’s called making music (playing music is something else altogether). Elvis Presley, that pioneer of appropriation, put it best: “Fair exchange bears no robbery, and the whole world will know that it’s true. If you wanna be hugged, well, you gotta hug me too… All the songs come with a license that gives you permission to do more than just listen to them. You can swap them. You can sample them. You can use them to fuel your own creative impulses, without worrying that the copyright cops will beat down your door.

Tres cool. Let’s hope there are some more copy cats of the effort. That it goes beyond a novelty.

And again, if you just take all the references to music and swap ’em for “learning content” or even the dreaded “learning objects” you get what we were pushing at EDUCAUSE.

Rim. Mix. Mash. Share. Learn.

Yeah.