Girl Talk: The Maestro of Mashup

Gregg Michael Gillis, better known by his stage name Girl Talk, is an American musician and DJ specializing in mashups and digital sampling.  Girl Talk has essentially found his fame by sampling music and cutting different artists music together into huge party mixes. He definitely skirts the law by citing fair use as a legal backbone for his work, which allows limited use of copyrighted material without requiring permission from the rights holders.  Although, the New York Times Magazine has actually called his music "a lawsuit waiting to happen".  Normally fair use isn't an issue for artists in the music industry, but when you sample 372 songs in your last album it could provide some controversy with your fellow associates.

Gregg Gillis seems to follow his own rules when it comes to music, making it and releasing it.  He released Girl Talk's latest album for free.  That's right, free to the world for all to listen.  The big music labels probably scoffed at Gregg's tactic, but I think it's brilliant.  Thanks to his frenzied fan base and social media sites to spread the news, The servers at Illegal Art's website (Girl Talks label) crashed hours after releasing the album due to heavy demand and he's selling out clubs coast to coast. Girl Talk has never had so much exposure.  By providing his music for free, hes created value and demand for Girl Talks brand.  Sounds like success to me.

 Click here to download Girl Talks new album All Day.   For free.

Click here for a visual guide to every song sampled on the album.  For free.