Case Studies/MoShang
In the case of the Asian Variations album, [we] stood to gain much more from the exposure than we did from making it available commercially. Choosing a CC Music Sharing Licence gave the listening public a clear mandate to download and share the album,… allowed us to retain the right to possibly license the music for commercial use at a later stage. Furthermore, since I'd made use of CC licensed material in the past, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to give something back to the CC community. MoShang —
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Overview
MoShang is the Chinese moniker of Jean Marais, who relocated from South Africa to Taichung, Taiwan, in 2003. MoShang calls himself a sound jeweller. He collects rough audio diamonds from the streets of Taiwan (be they overheard conversations, street-ads blared from the ubiquitous blue-trucks, street processions or funeral chants) and fuses them with traditional Chinese instruments and laid-back beats to create a unique blend of downtempo electronica he likes to call Chinese Chill. His first album as MoShang, Made in Taiwan, was released on his Onse Plate (Afrikaans for ‘Our Records’) imprint in 2004. His second, Chill Dynasty, followed in 2006.
His third album, Asian Variations, is a collection of remixes and is released in 2007. The entire album is made available under a Creative Commons Music Sharing Licence. Some of these remixes were solicited by the original artists, two were done for remix competitions, and in some cases MoShang approached artists directly requesting permission to remix their works. The artists represented on the album are literally from all over the globe: the USA (Fort Minor, Toao, Lovespirals, Brad Reason), Taiwan (Kou Chou Ching, Chang Jui-chuan, Viba, André van Rensburg, MoShang), South Africa (Gordon’s Suitcase), Japan (Akihiko Matsumoto & Chage), Italy (Tafubar), and Slovenia (PureH). For the most part the collaboration was via the web. With the exception of Fort Minor and J-pop star, Chage, none of the artists are signed to major labels.
