Sickick and streaming mashup superstars?

These remixes by Sickick are an interesting take on the whole mashup thing, to not only chop up and remix songs a la Madeon but also add original vocals and production.

And even more surprising, Madge has given her blessing to Sickick’s Frozen remix, so it’s on Spotify, as is the Michael Jackson vs Phil Collins. Legit mashups are not a new thing, but it’s a newer thing that they tend to get okayed over at Spotify/streaming, which otherwise is pretty brutal with copyright (my mashup music podcast was removed for those reasons)

I agree with PDS when he says we’re not far from a Weeknd-style mashup superstar like this, although I suspect the legalities and marketing will keep it small at first or in a specific genre like EDM or hip hop.. We already have the likes of TikTok star Amorphous who got a new Mac Book Pro from Oprah after she learnt his was dying and is now working on top 10 singles, White Panda, UK’s Raheem D which I think has done original production on his mashups, and many more.

Also I think rebooting which has already been a thing = people taking existing illegal mashups they didn’t make then putting them on the streaming services legitimately – will become more of a thing. That would be sad since those of us who battled through the years of DMCAs and legal threats won’t get to see our productions get the proper love they deserve, or the fruits of our labours. I’m not saying Sickick is doing that, but at least one mashup now legally on Spotify from another producer is exactly that.

In the eyes of the law, it was never ours even though these things are our productions, our ideas, our transformations….the copyright law sadly doesn’t agree. It would be great if the forebears and originators get some love, but it seems that trickle down effect never happens.

It’s not happened when the few legit mashups like Dr Pressure were released before, or Barrie Christie’s massive hit for Eric Prydz and the originators get a tiny microscopic mention, if at all? I can’t see it changing tbh. The industry is full of snakes. That’s why I know some of us in the mashup community are a little bemused by the idea of mashup producer NFTs, crowdsourced albums for 100k or previously Girl Talk’s table dancing antics.

We have seen it come and go before and seen nothing change for us. So we can be rather sceptical of these moves for very good reasons. It does seem you either have a ‘a DJ name’ and have your face fit and get it slapped on the front, or you don’t. Difference I guess now is we have a massive social media to call such behaviour out?

So please don’t be like that mashup producer – credit your influences and inspirations. There is decades of history here…every new big mashup producer thinks they exist in a vacuum but it’s all built on what went before – from the KLF to the hip hop turntablists and beyond.

First video by Sickick via PDS