Another great production, steve! Do you pay for some kind of film-clip service where you have access to thousands of clips you can use in your videos? (Loved the Monty Python inclusions as well!)
I don't pay anything. I "borrow" from youtube where many of these clips are already "borrowed". I don't love piracy - but I don't feel like what I'm doing is overtly evil. I kinda feel like I'm taking that rogue nickel out of the penny jar at the gas station and making something nice with it. And Python? I try to include them as often as possible.
I always feel like it's okay so long as you're only using a small snippet and it's obvious you are attempting to create new art out of existing art and most importantly, you are not making any money off of it. I'd have no problem with someone taking a snippet of a song I made and collaging it with others so long as they weren't trying to make money with it or claiming it was their own work. It's an interesting question, what do we own? When does an artist or creator lose control over what they've made?
If I take one of your tracks, change it's title and stick my name on it is that original? I'd guess most people's answer to that would be 'no'. However, what are the boundaries of originality and what counts as part of the 'work' of the art. In placing my name on what was your song, by changing the title, I have re-contextualised it. I have altered the perception of it a listener may have through the way I chose to present it. Does that count as original? It's not original musically, but as conceptual whole it is arguably a completely original work.
I think if you fundamentally change the nature of what it is I made, it becomes something new, it transcends the original artifact. If you simply change the title, this isn't the case at least not so much with music. It's an interesting question though. From a copyright perspective, there are some concrete rules that govern such things and I'm not entirely clear what they are. In regards to the video's and podcasts that we make, I'd rather ask for forgiveness than permission. Again, we make ZERO money from these things and I never plan to either. But still, this poses some interesting questions. Anyone else have a better answer for rezzeJ's hypothetical?