Mashups are when content gets remixed or people remix online content. It creates a potential threat to copyrights due to producers creating their own media based off of a original idea. So, they are not stealing, just editing it to their own taste. With copyright, it is mandatory to receive permission to use someone else’s content and upload it. With remixes, no one can claim their music if someone else’s vocals are over it.
With new technology, we have many ways to avoid having copyright issues. We learn to move around the law and find ways to download content. If we did not depend on websites like youtube, Vimeo, etc, it would be easier to keep track of. Frere-Jones states “See mashups as piracy if you insist, but it is more useful, viewing them through the lens of the market, to see them as an expression of consumer dissatisfaction.” In a way, I agree. Not all remixes are due to dissatisfaction, but they become more creative or brings good vocal and good beats together. Many artists listen to songs like “I wish I had thought of that first” or “I wish I heard that beat first.” Now, thanks to remixes we don’t have to worry about stealing ideas because we can just add on to it.
I do not think mash ups and piracy are necessarily the same thing. Piracy is downloading illegal files that someone has shared online. Mash ups are simply editing over media that has already been used. Piracy is kept more secret, remixes are public and sometimes tend to receive more attention than the original.