Blanch It, Mix It, Mash It - Thomas M. Cooley Law School

2011] FAIR USE FRAMEWORK 503
Appropriation focuses on the selection and removal of another
artist’s material and subsequent inclusion into a new creation. 60 “[T]o
appropriate is to challenge, to expose, and thus to transcend the
conceits and boundaries of the past, thereby gaining insight into what
was unacknowledged or opaque.” 61 This art form “assume[s] a
deliberate role in the transmission of [our] culture.” 62 Appropriation
is the instrument with which the artist can combat this mass-media
driven world in which we live. 63 It confronts the ideals of our past
and forces the audience to see them in a new light. 64 Accordingly,
appropriation “liberates us from [the] constructs” 65 of what is known
by recontextualizing what would otherwise be familiar. 66 Thus, to
fully appreciate the final work one must imagine the appropriated
portion in its original context as well as the context in which it has
been placed by the mashup artist. 67
A common form of appropriation is collage, which creates a “new
combination, use, or assemblage of existing works.” 68 Collage is not
seen only in the visual-art world; many view digital sampling as a
form of collage. 69 Like the visual artist, the sampling artist removes
segments from recordings and “piece[s] them together into song
collages.” 70 “Arguably, the whole point of such sampling is to
dislocate the sound fragment from its initial context, and thereby to
empty the sample of its former meaning by infusing it with a new
59. Rachel Isabelle Butt, Appropriation Art and Fair Use, 25 OHIO ST. J. ON
DISP. RESOL. 1055, 1059–60 (2010).
60. Id. (citing Patricia Krieg, Copyright, Free Speech, and the Visual Arts, 93
YALE L.J. 1565, 1571 (1984); William M. Landes, Copyright, Borrowed Images,
and Appropriation Art: An Economic Approach, 9 GEO. MASON L. REV. 1, 1
(2000)).
61. Lange & Anderson, supra note 35, at 132.
62. Id. at 137.
63. Tang, supra note 56, at 97–98.
64. See Badin, supra note 57, at 1660.
65. Tang, supra note 56, at 101.
66. Badin, supra note 57, at 1668.
67. Tang, supra note 56, at 101.
68. Wong, supra note 53, at 1086.
69. Szymanski, supra note 4, at 282 (citing Alan Korn, Comment, Renaming
that Tune: Aural Collage, Parody and Fair Use, 22 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REV. 321,
326 (1992)).
70. Mongillo, supra note 50, at 2 (citing Robert Levine, Steal this Hook? DJ
Skirts Copyright Law, N.Y. TIMES, (Aug. 7, 2008), http://www.nytimes.com/2008/
08/07/arts/music/07girl.html).