Creative Commons

This is a contest for artists to mix audio tracks under 4 minutes which use provided voice samples from Ben Franzen and Kembrew McLeod’s forthcoming film, “Copyright Criminals.” Samples from the film include voiceovers from DJ Spooky, De La Soul, DJ Qbert, members of Public Enemy, Matmos, Coldcut, members of Negativland, and others. The best overall winner will be included prominently in the film and the top 11 other entries are to be included on a companion CD. Judging entries along with McLeod and Franzen is Jeff Chang, author of the American Book Award-winning “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation” and co-founder of the influential label SoleSides (now Quannum Projects), responsible for launching the careers of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker.

UPDATE: As of February 15, 2006 the official end date for the Copyright Criminals Contest is now March 14, 2006. All other rules are the same. Also, new samples from George Clinton (Parliament-Funkadelic) and Chuck D (Public Enemy) are added to the list of possible source material that you may use.

HOWTO Participate

Read the following sections and the Official Rules (PDF) UPDATED.
Download Source Materials
Make your remix
Submit your Remix under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 2.5 License

Source Materials

The source material is online and consists of voiceovers from De La Soul, DJ Qbert, members of Public Enemy, Matmos, Coldcut, members of Negativland, and others. UPDATE: George Clinton and Chuck D have authorized use of their samples as well.

Prizes

The best overall winning entry will receive prominent placement in the DVD of the Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport documentary. The best overall winning entry, together with the best [12] winning entries will be included on the Copyright Criminals Companion CD.

Format of Entries

Entries must be in the form of an audio recording and in MP3 format. Duration of an entry may not exceed 4 minutes. All eligible entries must be received by Sponsors via the http://ccmixter.org site by 9:00 p.m. PT, ~~February 28, 2006~~ March 14, 2006. Entries that finish uploading after 9:00 p.m. PT, ~~February 28, 2006~~ March 14, 2006, are not eligible.

Judging

Entry scoring is based on the following weighted categories:

Originality/Creativity (40% of overall grade)
Production Quality (30% of overall grade)
Relevance to the themes in Copyright Criminals: This is a Sampling Sport (30% of the overall grade)

Judges

Jeff Chang is the the author of the American Book Award-winning Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. In 1993, he co-founded and ran the influential hip-hop indie label, SoleSides, now Quannum Projects, helping launch the careers of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious, Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker. He has helped produce over a dozen records, including the “godfathers of gangsta rap”, the Watts Prophets.

Ben Franzen is an Atlanta-based artist who owns an independent production company, Changing Images LLC, which specializes in video, photography, and multimedia. Franzen currently edits a broadcast program Squidbillies, which appears on the Cartoon Network.

Kembrew McLeod is both a professor at the University of Iowa and an award-winning independent documentary filmmaker. McLeod has written music criticism for Rolling Stone, the Village Voice and MOJO, and has authored two books, most recently Freedom of Expression®: Overzealous Copyright Bozos and Other Enemies of Creativity (Doubleday).

Official Rules

New Rules Download the Official Rules (PDF).
Old Rules Download the Official Rules (PDF).

Selected Audio

UPDATED Packages [ zip ] [ tar.gz ]

Individual Samples
- NEW Chuck D Interview
- NEW George Clinton Interview
- De La Soul Interview
- DJ Spooky Interview
- DJ Spooky (Paul D Miller), Culture Music
- El-P Interview
- Hank Shocklee (from Public Enemy) Interview
- Mark Hosler (from Negativland) Interview
- Michael Hausman
- Mix Master Mike Interview
Trailer Audio

UPDATED Packages [ zip ] [ tar.gz ]

Individual Samples
- NEW George Clinton, Zisk Sample
- Harry Allen, “Meaning Method”
- Harry Allen, “…the best musicians copy…”
- Harry Allen, “…caught can I get a witness…”
- Aesop Rock, “Start with Samples…”
- Craig Baldwin, “20th Century New art form…”
- Bobbito 1
- Bobbito 2
- Coldcut, “Difference between mixing and appropriation…”
- Coldcut, “Get away with murder…”
- Coldcut, “Pay quid pro quo…”
- De La Soul, “Camera…”
- DJ Pam, All
- DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller), Examples of technology creating certain sounds
- DJ Spooky (Paul D. Miller), hip-hop escapes lawyers
- Eyedea & Abilities, A Crowd 1
- Eyedea & Abilities, “…why I sample…”
- Eyedea & Abilities, Pod 1
- Eyedea & Abilities, Show
- Eyedea & Abilities, Show 2
- Eclectic Method, Satire, money, power
- Shock G, “You can’t copyright a melody…”
- Shock G, “Takes more talent to stand out these days…”
- Shock G, “You can’t copyright a melody” 2
- Matmos
- Matmos, Cop in Head
- Matmos, Lawyers now interested in tamber
- Joanna Demers, Lawsuits for sampling
- Kid 606, Silent Partner 1
- Kid 606, Silent Partner 2
- Lawrence Lessig, Disney Apple Rip Mix and Burn 1
- Lawrence Lessig, Disney Apple Rip Mix and Burn 2
- Lawrence Lessig, Permission Culture
- Lawrence Lessig, Permission Culture 1
- Richard McGuire, “I feel both ways…”
- Carrie McLaren, Sullivan Biz Example
- Mr. Len
- Mr. Lif
- Mr. Len 2
- Mr. Dibbs
- Miho Hatori (Cibo Mato), Woman Full of Nerves
- Miho Hatori (Cibo Mato), Woman Full of Nerves 2
- Pete Rock 1
- Pete Rock 2
- Pete Rock (Interview 1)
- Pete Rock (Interview 2)
- DJ Q-Bert 1
- DJ Q-Bert 2
- DJ Q-Bert 3
- DJ Q-Bert 4
- DJ Q-Bert 5
- DJ Q-Bert, “…Being original with someone else’s work…”
- Tim Quirk, Disney and major labels
- Tim Quirk, It came from the beginnings of time
- Tim Quirk, “…lazyness is uncreative…”
- RJD2, “Don’t want to be the flag bearer…”
- Siva Vaidhyanathan 1
- Scanner, Laws are not relevant at the present time
- Greg Tate, Creating, Sampling, Personality
- Greg Tate, “…needle skipping is soul of hip-hop…”
- Greg Tate, Recontextualization
- Vicki Bennett, People Like Us
- Don Joyce (Negativland), “…all music is based on copying…”