The popular television show Glee first introduced mashups to the show in the episode titled "Vitamin C". In this episode the Glee members participated in a boys vs. girls competition on which group could put on the best performance of a combination of two different songs. The video below shows the boys performance of their mashup of Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and "Confessions" by Usher.
1. What is this mashup trying to communicate? Is it technical experiment, social or political commentary, a comedic parody, or an abstract work of media art?
In my opinion, although mashups generally communicate an idea or commentary, this mashup isn't trying to communicate anything. It's just a technical experiment by the shows producers. They introduced the shows audience to mashups, to try to incorporate a new concept (although not new to the world) of involving music in the show. They took Bon Jovi's "It's My Life" and Usher's "Confessions", two hits respectively, and combined them to create a great performance. This mashup is somewhat an abstract work of media art much like a collage of photos. Essentially, the show took these two songs apart, and put them back together in a unique and cool way.
2. Did its creator follow or break copyright laws in its production?
The creator did not break any copyright laws in this production. Glee's music, which are covers of other artist's music, must have gained permission from the all the artists who's songs they do a cover of. Otherwise, they would not have even been allowed to release the episode. Glee does have copyrights to their own music. It gives the show the right to sell their songs and have them performed on the show.
3. Do you think that mashups like this requires copyright permission? Why or why not?
I definitely believe mashups require copyright permission, particularly this one. Glee is very popular television show that broadcasts to various parts of the world. This mashup gained profit from the single under the cast of the show. It isn't right not to give credit to the original artists and not get copyrights to do their songs because it isn't right to gain a profit from someone else's original work.
