The Scissor Sisters and Beatles mashup is an instance of an allographic work. Bartel calls this a kind of emergence, or an emergent work of art. A composer has to make sure that the keys of the two tracks blend well together. And when you do that, you change the sound of the track in substantial ways.
Two records from 1983 achieved minor novelty fame, and then faded away, only to emerge 20 years later as the originators of a curious genre of pop music in the age of social media. This peculiar genre raises questions about how we should think about genre, musical aesthetics, and artistry in the time of industrially-produced music and digital reproduction. Guest voices include Jordan Roseman, aka DJ Earworm, Steve Stein, aka Steinski, philosopher Chris Bartel, and musicologist Christine Boone.
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