Legendary hip-hop producer, Dan The Automator Nakamura (Gorillaz, Deltron 3030), is on The RU Sirius Show this week. And there’s a text version of the conversation on 10 Zen Monkeys.
LISA REIN: You donated a track to the Creative Commons — Relaxation Spa Treatment.
DAN: First of all, the Creative Commons thing — the whole idea was to give music that people could freely use and license. Part of what’s going on right now in music, sampling — taking little bits of songs — it’s become a very expensive endeavor. I don’t mind the fact that it’s expensive because if you’re using someone else’s work, you should pay for it. That’s my personal opinion. If they don’t want you to use it, that’s their business. That’s okay.
But on the other side, I worked with (DJ) Shadow — we made really interesting recordings. And it’s like Musique Concrete, which you could never do at this juncture in time because it’s too expensive. It can’t exist. You’re losing a form of music. So I felt like I would like to at least contribute to the side of things where — if people do want to use something, or chop it up, they can do that. The thought that goes into that kind of stuff can bring out new ideas. And that will bring about more different kinds of music. I’d hate to see that whole thing go away.