SINCE WHEN ARE DJS MUSICIANS. FLAG EM

Every day, I find myself on Craigslist looking for DJ gigs, potential collaborators and equipment.  This week I came across a post on Craigslist in the Musician section, titled “Since When Are DJs Musicians? Flag em.”  The poster, a self taught 6-string guitar player, was frustrated by DJs posting in the musician section, and the CL administrators doing nothing to stop them.  Normally I would have just passed this by, as I often do when the all-too-familiar Zydeco DJ rants about the “close minded” venues not interested in his “rebellious” sound, but my recent completion of a new book changed my mind.

I immediately uploaded my own post, as a retort, explaining that ever since Cool DJ Herc and Grandmaster Flash showed the world that a turntable can be used as an instrument to perform. DJs are “configurable musicians”.

Configuarable musicians? Configurable Music? Let me explain.

A new book titled “Mashed Up“, written by innovator, educator, author, musician and Brooklynite, Aram Sinnreich, was published this year regarding “configurable” music and culture.  Essentially, this is music which is created using samples and loops from existing music.  Clearly Hip Hop has been doing this for quite some time, but the rise in accessible music technology has led to an increase in the production of numerous configurable genres, Mashups in particular.  This music is not only challenging copyright laws left right and center, but challenging how music is made, performed, bought, sold and legitimized.

In his book, Mr. Sinnreich poses a number of existential questions.  Is music responsible for social change, or at least is it a contributor?  And if the way we understand music changes, or a new paradigm arises, then will society follow?  Quite daunting questions indeed.

In the first half of the book he outlines what he considers to be the “panaudiocon” of contemporary music, which he refers to as the “modern framework”.  Essentially, it as an outline of the parameters by which we understand music in society, the interrelationship between regulation and resistance, and the institutions that maintain them; all of which have stood the test of time.  This rigorous undertaking alone is worth picking up the book.

In the second half of the book he relies heavily on surveys and interviews he conducted with configurable musicians like A plus D of the infamous Bootie parties, well known DJs, entertainment lawyers and music industry executives in order to illustrate the ambiguities and troubles that have arisen along with this music.  The commentary is informative, and often amusing, but I would have enjoyed hearing more input from the Hip Hop, Techno and House communities.

Unfortunately the book attempts to wrap up in far too few pages, although not surprising given the audacious hypothesis (and not without a slight tangent regarding race, gender studies and the environment), and provides far more questions than it answers.  However, the book concludes that the way we understand music and the “modern framework” that has been in place for so long is eroding, and the grey area regarding what is considered (original) music and who is a musician is expanding.  Only time will tell if the law will follow suit.  I believe that the book is a brilliant contribution to the discourse, and is the very reason I am posting now, to contribute to it in my own small way.

As a DJ I am clearly biased, but I feel that the real frustration from the 6-string samaurai mentioned earlier should be about skill, talent or passion, not the instrument in question.  I don’t consider every person who steps into a DJ booth to be a musician, and nor do I feel that any punk who picks up a guitar and learns three chords is either.

I think it’s a bit more grey than that.

–Chris Alker