PrintThe digitization of the music industry has raised many issues over thepast several years, and almost all of them have centered on theever-redefining concepts of property and ownership. The struggles in the murky waters of copyright have left many parties jaded, confused, or, worst of all, broke. Jordan Roseman, however, has seen (almost) nothing but fame and fortune as the industry moves to increasingly accessible media. As DJ Earworm, Roseman became the first mashup artist to break the Billboard Hot 100 for national radio play and chart in the Billboard Top 200 with his “United State of Pop 2007” and “United State of Pop 2008.” Since then, Roseman has been commissioned to create similar mashups for artists like Annie Lennox, Sean Kingston, and Maroon 5. The Eye sits down with Roseman to talk music theory, copyright, and the problem of profit.
So how did you get into mashups?
Well, it was kind of accidental. I was wasting time, I guess —I was a little underemployed and had some time on my hands ... so I started making mix tapes for friends and began cutting songs up more and more to mix it, and all of a sudden I realized, “Oh, this is a mashup!” So I played the first one for some of my friends and they encouraged me to make some more. So I did, and then I got involved with this club called Bootie, which has been going for many years, and I gave a demo to Adrian at Bootie, and he said, “Oh yeah, this is good stuff, you should come up with a name for yourself and put this stuff online!” My first reaction, because I’ve been a musician for a while, was, “I’m not going to put it online, people will just take it!” ... So I said, “What could it hurt?” created the name DJ Earworm, put up a Web site, and people just started downloading, and it just grew and grew and grew—it was pretty amazing!
That’s great. I love word-of-mouth publicity—everyone in the industry has really given up on that. So what’s the process going into a mashup? Do you always know what songs you want to work with?
There are a lot of different things I do. Sometimes I just really like a song and I think, “What can I do with this song?” I’m always writing down keys and tempos and analyzing them for my music collection —I kind of always know the BPM for everything. So, if I have a song I like that’s in F-minor, about 100 BPM, I look through my collection and find what the good matches are, numerically, and then after that, explore what feels good. But sometimes I just hear a song and then it just reminds me of another song. Like my Beyoncé vs. Tom Petty mashup, “[If I Were a] Free Falling Boy.” I heard that Beyoncé song, and instantly Tom Petty popped into my head, because it’s the same chords, and there’s that little part in the background where she’s going “Ahhh, aaahhh,” and I thought: “Oh! That’s like Tom Petty’s background vocals.” So sometimes it happens in a flash, and then I pick up the songs, and they were meant to be together.
You clearly have a really strong handle on the musical components, and you mentioned being a musician.
Well, I have a degree in music theory, and I consider myself a songwriter.
It makes sense that someone in music theory would be so good at mashups.
It is really important, music theory. I think most DJs understand beat, but they don’t necessarily understand key. But it’s really important to understand how all 12 of the notes work. Because a lot of times, some of the notes work, and some of them don’t, and you have to figure out what you’re going to do—are we going to shift this, or are we going to just shift one note, or do we just give up on this altogether? So that’s a lot more subtle. Almost anyone can tell when beats are out of line, but it takes a little more experience to know that a certain note doesn’t quite work.
You mentioned earlier your hesitation to put things online, which is a big problem for everyone in the music industry trying to figure out how much exposure they want versus trying to make a living out of their work.
Well, it’s a much easier decision when you’re doing music that you can’t profit from directly. The fact that I can’t sell these mashups makes it so the only real purpose for them is to give them away. At first, when I was unfamiliar with the situation I thought: “Oh, these things are pretty cool. I’m going to find some music executives that will pull some strings and make this thing happen!”
So then, the copyright on these songs—is that a problem every time you go to make a mashup, or because you’re not profiting from it does it become “Whatever you can get your hands on, you’re welcome to”?
Well, it’s a potential issue. Theoretically, it’s an issue; practically, it’s not. Basically, I’m going under the assumption of fair use. Fair use has four pillars that you would lay out your case for. One of them is profit—if you give yourself away, you’re definitely less liable. It’s possible a lawyer could come along and try to make a stink about it, to make a point to the larger community that you can’t be doing this. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. We [mashup artists] were given a lot of cease and desist notices about four or five years ago, and then it sort of stopped. And the music industry looked the other way for a while, and then they actually started to hire mashup artists, so it has kind of flipped around.
So are commissions the only means for profit from this?
Well, that and DJing. So it’s shifted over the years. At first I was doing clubs and then I was doing high-end events for a while. Then the economy crashed, and then luckily, somehow, I’ve been getting all this work from the industry this year, like the Annie Lennox and Kingston mashups.