Why I would like to study in the United Kingdom

The culture of music mashups is worldwide. The United Kingdom is home to some of the most influential and vibrant examples. The UK has always been a major source of music innovation and influence. The greatest rock bands to ever exist came from the UK - The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Queen, and Led Zepplin. The UK is also known as the birthplace of punk. Today the UK is leading the innovation of new genres of music including dubstep, new synthpop, and mashups. The UK also currently has one of the biggest music industries. The first crossover mashup pop hit to chart was "Freak Like Me", a song created by Richard X. It reached #1 on the UK singles chart.
    It is extremely important to actually travel to the United Kingdom to both meet and observe mashup producers. Most mashup artist cannot release their music commercially. They often do not own the rights to their source material.Additionally, a lot of mashup producers perform live. These performances happen in varied settings. Private house parties, dance clubs, and outdoor concerts are all places where music mashup culture thrives. Live performance informs their artistry. Such performances are not always documented.

Fulbright mtvU

I would really like to study the mashup culture of the UK. The UK is where music mashups first broke and it would be great to see what is going on as it is happening rather than read about it after the fact. Plus, cities like London have such a mashed up culture already it seems like the perfect environment to study in. When I look for mashup artists I always find a lot of awesome ones that come out of the UK.
I found the Fulbright mtvU award yesterday and it seems like a perfect fit for me. The only drawback is that the deadline is March 1. As in next week! Still, I am going to try.

Kickstarted!

early book cover concept design

designed by Garrett Strobel

Thank you!

I just wanted to thank all of the great mashup artists that have already emailed me back and thoughtfully answered my questions. Please click and check out the work of these incredible people!

THANKS:

DJ Maxentropy

BorisB

DJ Lobsterdust

Smash-Up Derby

DJ Jasper

Bearbot

plunderphonics!

Plunderphonics is a genre of music that uses appropriated music and sounds to create new compositions. Plunderphonic music is often highly subversive with the new compositions satirizing the source material. A classic example of plunderphonics is Negativland's "The Letter U and the Numeral 2". Negativland, an experimental sound band used audio of Casey Kasem bashing the rock band U2. That audio was rearranged to parody U2's popular song "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For".

What is a Mashup?

Updates

I will be presenting at University of Florida's 2011 Interdisciplinary Research Conference. This will be my first conference that I have ever attended, let alone presented something at. I am scheduled to present tomorrow at 2:00PM.
I've also started the process of contacting people who make or frequently interact with mashups. My friend Vishal Agarwala works as Director of Marketing for Grooveshark so I am very lucky to be able to pick his brain as well as have him introduce me to some interesting musicians. Also, one of my favorite instructors, Patrick Pagano teaches a graduate level class in digital audio design. In this class he covers many things having to do with remix culture, including mashups. I am now working on some questions to get his perspective about what it is like to teach students about mashups.
I am still avidly asking friends and colleagues about what their favorite mashups are. It is a nice way of getting to know what is out in the world besides what is super popular or what has already been written about in academic circles.