"Why The Music Industry Isn't Suing Mashup Star 'Girl Talk'"

Oh you mean it isn't because his last two albums were given away for free and as a result he isn't directly monetarily profiting from selling the samples?

Bruce Dickinson should also be knocking on his door asking to take his case for free, as Mr.Talk has what appears to me to be "a less than dynamite sound."

He makes money playing concerts...of other people's music

LAME

he should be wearing gold plated diapers

computers...meh

I don't suppose any of the preceding commenters can be bothered with googling whether monetary gain is even a necessary component of a copyright infringement claim, or whether unauthorized use on its own might be enough. As a lawyer I can totally understand why people don't find that sort of distinction interesting, but what I can't understand is why they are nonetheless confident that they know what's what. I mean, I don't go into my doctor's office and pretend to know wtf about everything he says, why do people who know fuck all about copyright law feel secure in their opinions about it? If nothing else you should educate yourselves about fair use, rather than assuming something is a violation if it isn't. There are few things shittier than people making the law out to be more restrictive than it is because that hurts creativity, hurts all of us.

He does make money playing other people's music. You should do it to. You would probably get paid more than you do right now and be much happier.

Not to mention you could travel more and meet more women/men. Whatever floats your boat.

At the end of the day BAH is totally right. He is able to make a living off of his 'art' and it is something anyone could do on the computer with the right ear and talent/work ethic. Girl Talk should be applauded for doing something he loves. He will end up with a shitty back from being hunched over that comp all the time but its all in the game.

Fair use. End of discussion.

it is highly likely the musicians he is sampling are getting paid in some form. Otherwise there would definitely be lawsuits by now.

i am not a lawyer, but if the original artists aren't getting paid and what girl talk is doing isn't copyright infringement... well, what's the point of having copyrights to begin with.

the artists must be getting paid in some form. I can't imagine them letting him get away with it otherwise.

There's no sense suing him since there's no way to actually prove he's a musician or artist.

You can use up to 15 seconds of a song without having to pay royalties for it. I know some samples go over the 15 second mark, but if you listen carefully (not that you'd want to for this garbage) you'll hear that the music which clocks in under 15 seconds is the music by artists who would likely sue. It's entirely possible the samples that goes over 15 seconds were cleared with those musicians beforehand.

I bet he doesn't clear shit... Well maybe now that he's rich..

Guaranteed he won't be able to use Sigur Ros or Radiohead's music.....

Thom and Jonsi won't let him....

actually he can't even touch the White Stripes, Portishead, Broken Social Scene, Husker Du, Envy, the Libertines, and millions of other great bands.

He's basically Z100 Dj....or top 40 music Dj

The artists could sue him and in return get his epic collection of sweaty headbands and bandanas. That seems fair.

ha...he samples portishead on the new album!

2 radiohead songs as well. Creep sample was very long

You people are all so dumb (except for 11:06 and 9:33, and a few others). Do you just talk / comment all day long and every once in awhile you accidentally say something factual? Almost everything written above is like, totally made up / gossip / rumors. Seriously, if you have no idea what you are talking about, at least do some double-checking/Googling before running your mouth on a public forum.

I'm GUESSING that he doesn't clear anything since it would cost a fortune. I'm also GUESSING people could sue him up the ass if they wanted to. But he's such an established figure that no one wants to be "that guy." Honestly, whoever was the first one to pull the trigger would only look like ridiculous party-ruining dinosaurs to take this guy to court.

he shoul dbe sued for making the Family Guy equivalent of music. ludacris vs black sabbath... jesus god. garbage.

9:33 and 11:08 lie and are a Girl Talk press relations worker who has been spamming a bunch of other message boards with the same dribble. Ever since the album came out yesterday, there's been talk of an impending lawsuit against Gillis and now he finally realizes he's about to get fucked 7 ways from Sunday once the documents are formally filed. You should see all the comments this person/these people have been putting on boards trying to detract away from the subject of him being sued.

i disagree that he is "the most unappealing defendant imaginable" or that people don't want to sue him because public opinion will support him. he's not making free mashups for poor cancer patients. He's selling tickets that cost 30-40 dollars. No one views him as honorable or altruistic, two adjectives that should fit "the most unappealing defendant imaginable".

If an artist sued him, I don't think that artist would be seen in a negative light. This isn't like Metallica going after fans for downloading music for free. I agree with 9:56. The artists are probably being paid in some form.

He should do a track sampling Metallica. Specifically Lars Ulrich's drumming –

He should sample this hummus platter I just made. The shit is delicious.

There is no way all the artists are getting paid. Way too many artists. How much do you think it would cost to sample "Imagine"?

"He makes money playing concerts...of other people's music
LAME"

Seriously? You're an idiot. What the what to you think a DJ does?

@2:11 - you said it dude, hummus is shit.

all he does is use software match up song snippets with the same time signature. sue him? I think he should be arrested.

It's not a riddle, does anybody here actually know the answer to why he's not getting sued? Maybe that lawyer can come back and instead of telling us how stupid everyone is, actually shed some light?

to the idiot who said he's not using Radiohead, he already has. smart.

You need to be able to prove as a copyright owner that you are losing income, or the original is being detracted from, for it to constitute infringement. No one wants to sue Girl Talk because he could very easily argue that this is not the case and win. By doing that it would set precedent that would open the floodgates on samples of all kinds, especially in hip hop. No major label or copyright owner wants to be the one to screw the pooch for everyone else. This was a non-story 3 years ago.

write your own songs. plain and simple

The New York Times/New Yorker went over this already way back so there

He's sucking the dick of every artist he samples and if the artist is a woman, he let's them watch him get fucked up the ass by a man of their choosing. Forget Joss Stone, Greg Gillis is the real "Fucks for tracks" musician.

girl talk is the weird al of your pitiful generation. deal with it.

In a way, I'm angry at 12:28. By writing an interesting and insightful comment, he's rewarded me for suffering through the rest of you retards. This, in turn, will lead to me reading more awful comments on BV hoping to get the one good one. Bastard!

I do wonder why Girl Talk gets the glasses/arms crossed/snide comment crowd's panties in such a bunch? I think it might be a combination of jealousy and their belief that 'anyone could do it.'

Though, to paraphrase The Social Network, if you could really be "Girl Talk" then you'd be "Girl Talk."

Here is an insightful comment for you...

The b-vitamin content is high in chickpeas and studies have shown that deficiencies of b-vitamins leads to a retardation of mental facilities.

my law degree and I would like to inform you that 12:28 is incorrect in his assessment. I would tell you more but I have a real job that I have to do real work for.

You're right 3:46pm. It is the "anybody could do it" factor. Just ask my friend and failed mash-up artist also named after a board game, Fireball Island. Girl Talk took his shtick and ended his career!

3:46 should take note of 3:54.

haha... i love hearing from all the 'experts' on here regarding copyright. you guys need to go back to class.

just read all the comments to try and learn something and the only good comment was, "He should sample this hummus platter I just made. The shit is delicious."

Congrats to this guy for still being around! The original Dj Pauly D!