After Project Bluebell, I got to thinking about generative music again. It's the second time this topic has come up for me in the last year; at Mobile 2.0 I was on a panel which rambled across it. We mused about the rights issues lurking within, with particular reference to software like RJDJ.

At Over The Air, Team FP did an installation-type piece which involved turning Bluetooth phone names into music. Once you have the basics of text-to-music, there's a lot more you can do with it, and a walk across town got me to thinking about rights issues and what else I could use as source material. Yesterday afternoon I got together with Adolf Hitler and we've made an EP. It has 4 tracks on it, all generated programmatically from an English translation of Mein Kampf.

There are two things I was thinking about when I did this: firstly, what happens to the original context of a piece of work when it's translated so obliquely? And secondly, who is the ultimate creator of a work that's put together in this way? Turning such an unpleasant piece of source material into a potentially calming soundscape seemed to be appropriate, so I generated the tracks from the most offensive bits of the text that I could find with a cursory run-through. I'm entirely unfamiliar with the book itself, so can't be sure that I've really plumbed the depths.

Each piece is created by taking a small number of sentences from the book, algorithmically turning them into tunes, and having these tunes run and loop concurrently. The resulting pieces are as follows, titled after the chapters I sourced sentences from:

1. Nation and Race (piano and pads), generated from four fragments: "The result of all racial crossing is therefore in brief always the following", "Lowering of the level of the higher race", "Physical and intellectual regression and hence the beginning of a slowly but surely progressing sickness" and "To bring about such a development is, then, nothing else but to sin against the will of the eternal creator";
2. War Propaganda (marimba), generated from three fragments: "The people in their overwhelming majority are so feminine by nature and attitude that sober reasoning determines their thoughts and actions far less than emotion and feeling", "And this sentiment is not complicated, but very simple and all of a piece", and "It does not have multiple shadings; it has a positive and a negative; love or hate, right or wrong, truth or lie never half this way and half that way, never partially, or that kind of thing";
3. Philosophy and Party (duet on steel drums), generated from two fragments: "On this planet of ours human culture and civilization are indissolubly bound up with the presence of the Aryan" and "If he should be exterminated or subjugated, then the dark shroud of a new barbarian era would enfold the earth";
4. The Strong Man is Mightiest Alone (vibraphone and woodblock), generated from four fragments: "And, above all things", "the People's State will never be created by the desire for compromise inherent in a patriotic coalition", "but only by the iron will of a single movement", and "which has successfully come through in the struggle with all the others";

Set your artistic expectations low: neither Hitler nor I are renowned for our musical prowess (particularly with marimba), so this is uncomfortable listening in many ways. That said, there's something attractive to me in taking this unpleasantness and turning it into something soothing or even beautiful. OK, momentarily beautiful. Maybe. And I like the fact that this transformation is one-way: it can't be reversed, once you've made the music you can never turn it back into text. This feels to me a little like burying a decaying corpse and having it fertilise the surrounding soil, or perhaps a positive spin on book-burning with a side-order of swords into ploughshares. Maybe we should do more of this, defusing our species' darker tendencies into art and whimsy?

The other aspect of this which I wanted to consider was that of rights: is Hitler *really* the creative force behind these songs? I can't see a clear delineation between his input and that of the algorithmist (in this case Thom Hopper of Future Platforms, who's also not a nazi) began. The choices of what individual characters map to musical notation is certainly one which affects the output, but not in any sort of predictable way, and not abstract from the input. Who is the creator here, and what legal structures if any, could or should we put in place around these sorts of creations? Copyright on the English text has been relinquished (according to Wikipedia), but the book itself is banned in many countries. Are derivative works of the book similarly affected? Would music derived from the book count as a derivative work? What if I used Mark V Shaney to programmatically generate further text from the original book, would that be a violation of law?

Does anyone know of any legal precedents, guidelines or further reading on how we might handle these sorts of issues with generative art?

I'm releasing the resulting EP through TuneCore, who tell me there's a 4-6 week delay between my submission today and its being available - hopefully through iTunes, eMusic, Amazon and a host of others. I'm curious to see if it gets through, given its provenance, but in the meantime you can download MP3s from the links above.

Comments

[James Burt]

I seem to recall a project that attempted to generate all possible "tunes" and copyright them, forcing musicians to license them for any music they wished to make. Sadly my google skills fail me and I can't cite this.

Also, there was an interesting discussion about generated text, authorship, and literary zines last year:
http://asalted.blogspot.com/2008/10/edgy-fucking-litzine-bollocks.html
http://www.orbific.com/weblog/2008/10/on-edgy-fucking-litzine-bollocks.html
The full story has yet to emerge publicly, but there are some fascinating issues here. Avant-garde poetry is particularly susceptible to this sort of 'attack', particularly since there have been some fascinating poems generated by rules.

Most weirdly, following your description of 'War Propaganda', I dreamt I was in a club that played it. I am disappointed to discover today that a marimba is an instrument and not the sexy south american dance i heard last night.

What would be the legal effect of using proscribed texts, such as those banned under recent terrorist legislation? Is there a legal definition of how far words have to be manipulated before they are defused?

[dancing hitler]

Effter Pruject Blooebell, I gut tu theenking ebuoot genereteefe-a mooseec egeeen. Bork bork bork! It's zee secund teeme-a thees tupeec hes cume-a up fur me-a in zee lest yeer; et Mubeele-a 2.0 I ves oon a punel vheech rembled ecruss it. Ve-a moosed ebuoot zee reeghts issooes loorkeeng veethin, veet perteecooler refference-a tu sufftvere-a leeke-a RJDJ.

Et Oofer Zee Eur, Teem FP deed un instelleshun-type-a peeece-a vheech infulfed toorneeng Blooetuut phune-a nemes intu mooseec. Oonce-a yuoo hefe-a zee beseecs ooff text-tu-mooseec, zeere's a lut mure-a yuoo cun du veet it, und a velk ecruss toon gut me-a tu theenking ebuoot reeghts issooes und vhet ilse-a I cuoold use-a es suoorce-a metereeel. Yesterdey effternuun I gut tugezeer veet Edulff Heetler und ve'fe-a mede-a un IP. It hes 4 trecks oon it, ell genereted prugremmeteecelly frum un Ingleesh trunsleshun ooff Meeen Kempff.

Zeere-a ere-a tvu theengs I ves theenking ebuoot vhee I deed thees: furstly, vhet heppens tu zee ooreeginel cuntext ooff a peeece-a ooff vurk vhee it's trunsleted su oobleeqooely? Und secundly, vhu is zee ulteemete-a creetur ooff a vurk thet's poot tugezeer in thees vey? Toorneeng sooch un unpleesunt peeece-a ooff suoorce-a metereeel intu a putenteeelly celmeeng suoondscepe-a seemed tu be-a epprupreeete-a, su I genereted zee trecks frum zee must ooffffenseefe-a beets ooff zee text thet I cuoold feend veet a coorsury roon-thruoogh. I'm inturely unffemeelier veet zee buuk itselff, su cun't be-a soore-a thet I'fe-a reelly ploombed zee depths. Um gesh dee bork, bork!

Iech peeece-a is creeted by tekeeng a smell noomber ooff sentences frum zee buuk, elgureethmicelly toorneeng zeem intu toones, und hefeeng zeese-a toones roon und luup cuncoorrently. Bork bork bork! Zee resoolteeng peeeces ere-a es fulloos, teetled effter zee chepters I suoorced sentences frum:

Neshun und Rece-a (peeunu und peds), genereted frum fuoor fregments: "Zee resoolt ooff ell receeel crusseeng is zeereffure-a in breeeff elveys zee fullooeeng", "Looereeng ooff zee lefel ooff zee heegher rece-a", "Physeecel und intellectooel regresseeun und hence-a zee begeenning ooff a slooly boot soorely prugresseeng seeckness" und "Tu breeng ebuoot sooch a defelupment is, zeen, nutheeng ilse-a boot tu seen egeeenst zee veell ooff zee iternel creetur";
Ver Prupegunda (mereemba), genereted frum three-a fregments: "Zee peuple-a in zeeur oofervhelmeeng mejureety ere-a su femeenine-a by netoore-a und etteetoode-a thet suber reesuneeng determeenes zeeur thuooghts und ecshuns fer less thun imushun und feeleeng", "Und thees senteement is nut cumpleeceted, boot fery seemple-a und ell ooff a peeece-a", und "It dues nut hefe-a moolteeple-a shedeengs; it hes a puseetife-a und a negeteefe-a; lufe-a oor hete-a, reeght oor vrung, troot oor leee-a nefer helff thees vey und helff thet vey, nefer perteeelly, oor thet keend ooff theeng";
Pheelusuphy und Perty (dooet oon steel drooms), genereted frum tvu fregments: "Oon thees plunet ooff oooors hoomun cooltoore-a und ceefilizeshun ere-a indeessuloobly buoond up veet zee presence-a ooff zee Eryun" und "Iff he-a shuoold be-a ixtermeeneted oor soobjoogeted, zeen zee derk shruood ooff a noo berbereeun ira vuoold inffuld zee iert";
Zee Strung Mun is Meeghtiest Elune-a (feebrephune-a und vuudbluck), genereted frum fuoor fregments: "Und, ebufe-a ell theengs", "zee Peuple's Stete-a veell nefer be-a creeted by zee desure-a fur cumprumeese-a inherent in a petreeutic cueleeshun", "boot oonly by zee irun veell ooff a seengle-a mufement", und "vheech hes sooccessffoolly cume-a thruoogh in zee strooggle-a veet ell zee oozeers";

Set yuoor erteestic ixpecteshuns loo: neeezeer Heetler nur I ere-a renooned fur oooor mooseecel prooess (perteecoolerly veet mereemba), su thees is uncumffurteble-a leestening in muny veys. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Thet seeed, zeere's sumetheeng ettrecteefe-a tu me-a in tekeeng thees unpleesuntness und toorneeng it intu sumetheeng suutheeng oor ifee beooteeffool. OoK, mumentereely beooteeffool. Meybe-a. Und I leeke-a zee fect thet thees trunsffurmeshun is oone-a-vey: it cun't be-a refersed, oonce-a yuoo'fe-a mede-a zee mooseec yuoo cun nefer toorn it beck intu text. Um de hur de hur de hur. Thees feels tu me-a a leettle-a leeke-a booryeeng a deceyeeng curpse-a und hefeeng it ferteelise-a zee soorruoondeeng sueel, oor perheps a puseetife-a speen oon buuk-boorneeng veet a seede-a-oorder ooff svurds intu pluooghsheres. Meybe-a ve-a shuoold du mure-a ooff thees, deffooseeng oooor speceees' derker tendenceees intu ert und vheemsy?

Zee oozeer espect ooff thees vheech I vunted tu cunseeder ves thet ooff reeghts: is Heetler *reelly* zee creeteefe-a furce-a beheend zeese-a sungs? I cun't see-a a cleer deleeneeshun betveee hees inpoot und thet ooff zee elgureethmist (in thees cese-a Thum Hupper ooff Footoore-a Pletffurms, vhu's elsu nut a nezee) begun. Zee chueeces ooff vhet indeefidooel cherecters mep tu mooseecel nuteshun is certeeenly oone-a vheech effffects zee ooootpoot, boot nut in uny surt ooff predeecteble-a vey, und nut ebstrect frum zee inpoot. Um de hur de hur de hur. Vhu is zee creetur here-a, und vhet legel strooctoores iff uny, cuoold oor shuoold ve-a poot in plece-a eruoond zeese-a surts ooff creeshuns? Cupyreeght oon zee Ingleesh text hes beee releenqooished (eccurdeeng tu Veekipedia), boot zee buuk itselff is bunned in muny cuoontreees. Um gesh dee bork, bork! Ere-a dereefetife-a vurks ooff zee buuk seemilerly effffected? Vuoold mooseec dereefed frum zee buuk cuoont es a dereefetife-a vurk? Vhet iff I used Merk F Shuney tu prugremmeteecelly generete-a foorzeer text frum zee ooreeginel buuk, vuoold thet be-a a feeuleshun ooff lev?

Dues unyune-a knoo ooff uny legel precedents, gooeedelines oor foorzeer reedeeng oon hoo ve-a meeght hundle-a zeese-a surts ooff issooes veet genereteefe-a ert?

I'm releeseeng zee resoolteeng IP thruoogh TooneCure-a, vhu tell me-a zeere's a 4-6 veek deley betveee my soobmeessiun tudey und its beeeng efeeeleble-a - hupeffoolly thruoogh iToones, iMooseec, Emezun und a hust ooff oozeers. Um gesh dee bork, bork! I'm cooreeuoos tu see-a iff it gets thruoogh, geefee its prufenunce-a, boot in zee meunteeme-a yuoo cun doonlued MP3s frum zee leenks ebufe-a.