You’ll recall that Web Watch has written about mashups before. Some people love them, some people hate them.
Those that fall into the HATE camp have nothing against mashups in general, but just would rather hear the actual songs that make up the mashup rather than the mashup itself.
And that could very well be the reason the site we’re talking about today exists, to appease the mashup haters and bring them together with the mashup lovers.
DJEarWorm – United States of Pop
LEGITMIX is a site dedicated to selling mashups and remixes, but doing so via technology rather than by selling the remixed track itself.
So what happens is that if you like someone’s mix (such as DJEarWorm’s popular SummerMash), you would go to LegitMix and buy DJEarWorm’s LEGITMIX data file. The data file is what describes exactly how DJEarWorm remixed all those songs together.
So far, so good. You have the remix file.
But you don’t have the source files that make the mashup. To make the remix, you have to purchase the original artist music files from LEGITMIX as well, just like you would do from the Apple iTunes Store to make the mix on your own. Once you have the songs, then you would use LEGITMIX to recreate the mashup as the mashup DJ intended.
So in the end, you not only have a copy of the mashup, but also copies of the individual songs. As LEGITMIX explains on their site: “the Legitmix process requires the consumer to own the sampled tracks it gives remixers a means to sell and distribute their work that still respects the artist they sample.”
So how much money do mashup songs cost to make? It all comes down to how many original songs are in the mix itself. A mashup with 14 different samples in it costs at least the same as what it would cost to purchase those 14 songs in the first place. The creation of the mashup itself? Depends on whether the DJ who created the LEGITMIX wants a little kickback for their creative piece themselves.
So that’s how you can spend up to $15 or more for a single mashup. But in doing so, you’re also paying the original artists for their samples in that work. It’s win-win for everyone, and you’re a contributing member of society.