Until a recording is picked up by a major label, a musician needn't worry about a legal nicety such as a copyright. If it's a hit, part of the profits can be used to pay off the copyright holders. The moral and aesthetic issues of using other people's work, Nice said, are meaningless to many of today's musicians. Today, however, it lies buzzless and battered. Whatever is, is up for grabs.
All art is essentially collage.
The only originality left, claims artist David Salle, is the choice of what to borrow from. It has to do with seeing what is familiar. We live in a recycled culture. The worlds of commercial television and motion pictures are hooked to past hits because, with millions of dollars in production costs at stake, it's a better gamble to bet on what has been successful in the past than to try something new. Originality is an expensive luxury.