Song Re-Use

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Song Re-Use is a vidding activity.

Using the same song in a vid is done when a fan is not aware of a previous vid, and it can be done when a fan is familiar with the song choice.

A similar practice is that of fiction writers using shared universes or writing unauthorized sequels.

Some songs/artists find themselves being used over and over in a single fandom, resulting in a vidding trope for that fandom, such as the extensive usage of Sarah McLachlan in Due South.

Song re-use can be extremely contentious as common wisdom was that the first vid a viewer sees for a particular song is often the one that sticks in their mind, no matter how powerful a second vid to that song is.

A corollary to this was that to remake a song -- to produce a new vid using the same song as someone else -- was to imply that there was something wrong with the original vid, and it had to be remade 'right'.

For these and other reasons, songs were jealously guarded, and it was considered 'bad form' to remake a song that someone had already done.

In 1996, while discussing the topic of unauthorized sequels to fan stories on Virgule-L, Sandy Herrold related the following history of fannish attitudes towards:

Many years back in the age of songvids (after Kendra invented them, but before most fans had good equipment), a friend made a Pros vid. Another, better known vidder saw it, liked virtually all of it but thought the original vidder had "done some things wrong". So she made her own version of it. She used better equipment, but with the exception of 5-6 clips, made the *same* version. Consensus was just beginning to develop about such things as re-using other vidders songs (even in different fandoms), and there was certainly no 'rule' about such remaking. But in the uproar after that, most people decided that if you were going to reuse someone's song in the same fandom, you should put your own spin on it (use a different character's POV, something...), rather than just remake someone's work *while changing it to make it closer to your liking.* [1]

In 1993, vidder Gayle F approached a vidder who had used a song twice in different fandoms to ask permission to use the vid. Ironically, the vidder's husband also had just completed his own vid using the song to a third fandom, Gayle opted not to use the vid for a fourth time:

In the continuing saga revolving about the question of whether fen should use songs previously used by other fen, I opted for the permission theory and asked Mary Van Duesen if she would mind if Tashery and I used The Arbiter, which she had previous used interestingly for both Blake's 7 & Sherlock Holmes. She said it was fine, that she enjoyed seeing different versions of the same song. We wanted to use the song for The Sandbaggers, as we were having difficulty finding any song we thought would work for that show. Mary mentioned that her husband, Paul, had just done a version for The Prisoner, and that she would include with some other tapes she was sending me. Well, after seeing Paul's flashy new Arbiter, we both lost interest in using the song for The Sandbaggers, which is visually a fairly dull show, although a rich one emotionally... [2]

But not all all vidders object per se to song re-use.

In 1995, a fan wrote:

I loved Sandy & [C]'s WG interpretation of "Something to Talk About." There are some songs (as Sandy says) that are so perfect they should be done in every fandom. [C] & I are currently discussing the WG version of "Holding Out for a Hero," previously the most-done songtape of all time. [3]

Vidders on the Virgule-L mailing list in 1995 were debating song re-use when Sandy Herrold offered the following:

And it reminds me. I would never say "you *must* use the 'standard' or 'hit' version of a song for a song vid," but I think vidders should realize that a lot of people resist remakes of fav songs, especially the first time they hear them. So, if the version you want to use has some real advantage (sung by a man instead of a woman; slower or faster, and you really wanted the speed change; much more comprehensible lyrics, etc), go ahead and use it, but realize that some % of your audience will be so distracted by the new version that they aren't paying as much attention to the vid, at least the first viewing.

[snip excerpts where vidders wonder why you would make another version of a vid of a song that's already been done, even if it's in a different fandom?]

Um...I know that DJ and some other vidders very strongly agree...on this one. I go back and forth. Yes, the impact of the song is lessened, because the viewer's brain is distracted comparing one version to the other when it should just be watching. But, some vidders use songs for incomprehensible fandoms, and you no sooner see a vid than you think, 'why did they use this wonderful dark song for Trek,' say, 'when it should have been for some depressing dark show....' and you want to use it for something more appropriate.

And, there have been some great vids made from the same song. I love the MVD version of 'Hotel California' for B7, and I love JChung version of the same song for The Prisoner, for example.[4]

I will happily admit that some songs have been done to death, like Holding out for a Hero, (but I was completely amused to see a new version of that a couple of months ago to "A Funny thing happened on the way to the Forum" where the 'hero' of the title is the character _Hero_ in the movie, and a bigger bumbler you'll never meet...). And I will agree that a song probably shouldn't be done more than once per TV show. (Though even then, it is painful to see a terrible job of a great song--I would probably never do it, but I have wanted to redo some vids so badly: great song, perfect fandom, terribly thought out, or terribly put together...)

And, it is sometimes fascinating to see the same song done from two radically different perspectives. In fact, I know a pros vid that the vidder intentionally did twice, once from Bodie's pov, once from Doyle's pov, and both of them are hilarious (This Boy--The Beatles).

But I just sigh in a vid showing when the opening notes of the song start, and I think, 'same old, same old...'. [5]

With popular songs, that sort of guarding behavior isn't always possible. Songs that receive a lot of "airplay" means that many vidders can come in contact with the song independent of the vidding community, and thus not know that other vids had already been made, or they are not concerned about duplicating song choice.

Often these songs also tend to be fairly generic, and are easily adapted to many fandoms, being 'just perfect' for each fandom they were used in. This led to many variations on a theme, with the same song reused by many different vidders, which led to them becoming a vidding trope.

As access to vidding equipment became cheaper and more easily accessible, and as the centralized vidding community splintered apart with the sheer volume of new members and new communities being formed -- many of them with a monofannish as opposed to a multifannish focus -- there was no real way to maintain the old 'one song/one vid' adage.

Same Artist

Sometimes it isn't the song that was re-used, but the artist.

Same Artist: Some Examples

Same Song at the Same Time

Occasionally, two or more vidders will choose the same song for a premiere vid at the same vid show, which leads to a lot of anxiety on everyone's part.

At Escapade in 2001, Lynn C. and Killa both created vids for "In Your Eyes" by Oyster Band.

Lynn chose Stargate SG-1 Jack/Daniel as her focus, which meant that the stars were literal and the idea of forever was metaphorical in her vid.

Killa chose Highlander's Duncan/Methos, which gave a literal quality to forever and a metaphorical one for stars.

Both vids had at their core the same theme. Both vids were made on computers, but as extra bonus tension, Lynn was a longstanding member of the VCR vidding community, and Killa was one of the vidders of the WOAD society, which promoted computer vidding. This perfect storm of culture clash over fandom, lyric interpretation, and vidding community base, led to one of the more contentious vid review panels in Escapade's history.

That same year, Killa also reused another song that had appeared in the 1999 Escapade vid show to create her now well-known Dante's Prayer.

In a 2000 discussion on the Vidder list Killa and Morgan Dawn talked about song choice in the context of the re-use of Dante's Prayer:

Killa: I do agree that it's more fun to use an original song that no one's used before and claim it for your own show, generally speaking. However, I feel compelled to point out that I was not the first person to vid to Dante's Prayer. In my own defense, I completely forgot there was a Titanic vid to that song when I decided to try it. Dante's Prayer was a song I had written a K/S story to years before, and to me it was intrinsically tied up in that fandom, so while I remembered the Titanic vid as being really beautiful, I'd completely forgotten it was *that* Loreena McKennitt song. (Selective memory?)

Morgan Dawn: Killa is correct -- 2 years ago, Justine Bennett & I did use the Dante's Prayer song to illustrate the movie Titanic. I feel that it is best to use your own song -- simply because music is such a powerful element of songfvids that your vid can be diluted if the song is used over and over again.

But there are factors that reduce the impact of "over-used" music -- for example, "Holding Out For A heroe" has been used in almost every fandom. And I still like to watch every one of them, simply for comparison.

last year we used "Don't You Need' by M Ethridge for a SH vid -- the song had been used (to better effect I thought) in Gayle and Tashery's "Blake's 7" vid many years ago. But since several years had past and it was a different fandom, Gayle & I both decided the music would not be "over-used". So time and distance can also reduce your risk of over-exposing a song.

Which leads me to ponder the synchronicity of the universe -- I almost decided to re-show the Titanic version of "Dante"s Prayer" again in the Friday Escapade show [the very same year Killa premiered her Star Trek version].... what an interesting experience that would have been, eh?

At VividCon 2008, deejay and Seah & Margie both chose the same song for their premiere vids, Handlebars by Flobots, with deejay using Iron Man footage and Seah & Margie using Doctor Who, but without the technology and culture clash issues, it didn't result in the same sort of controversy as In Your Eyes had.

Some Common Song Choices

References

  1. ^ quoted with permission
  2. ^ Gayle F's review in Rainbow Noise #2 (1993).
  3. ^ from Strange Bedfellows (APA) #10 (August 1995)
  4. ^ The latter is by Judy Chien.
  5. ^ October 1995 post to [the Virgule-L mailing list, reposted with permission.
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