Audio Engineering Society

Convention e-Brief
Presented at the 131st Convention
2011 October 20–23 New York, NY, USA

This Engineering Brief was selected on the basis of a submitted synopsis. The author is solely responsible for its presentation,
and the AES takes no responsibility for the contents. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this paper, or any portion thereof, is not
permitted without direct permission from the Audio Engineering Society.

MASH-UP
Stephen Partridge
Department Manager - Media Production,
High Wycombe Campus,
Buckinghamshire New University,
Queen Alexandra Road,
High Wycombe,
Buckinghamshire,
HP11 2JZ
t: 01494 522141 x4332
room: E2.11
e: stephen.partridge@bucks.ac.uk

ABSTRACT
The project will constitute an exploration of the choices made by users of audio post-production/editing applications
in the selection and re-use of digital media files. The intended outcome would be to inform a better understanding of
the ways in which contemporary users engage with digital media artefacts. The production context upon which this
study will be based concerns an ongoing enterprise project, some further details of which are referred to below.

A description of the research to be undertaken
Mash-Up: a piece of recorded music created by
combining two or more pieces of recorded music,
usually by adding the voice from one recording
to the music of another (MacMillan Dictionary:
http://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/
british/mashup)
The initial question concerns the motivation for this
research. The purpose is to identify why and how people
engage with Mash-Ups, and to investigate findings in
relation to a specified academic context. The focus here,
however, will be on the application project.
Development of the Mash-Up Enterprise Project
The production context upon which this study will be
based concerns an ongoing enterprise project, based on
a simple idea that I found myself dwelling on at length
early in 2009 during the Christmas break. Having been
required to focus my teaching at that time on the current
political economy of the music industry a recurring
theme in my background reading and research was the
decline in the economic value of recorded music, and
much has been said and written about the alleged
catastrophic impact that this has had on the established
music industry (will reference Kusek 2005, primarily).
It struck me that while the record labels were struggling
to sell CDs and downloads since the boom in MP3
audio file sharing that followed Shaun Fanning’s
development of Napster (Alderman, 2001), there
remains an enormous frozen store of audio files
(commonly known as stems) that comprise multi-
channel master recordings; i.e. the individual instrument
parts (recordings of various vocal parts, keyboards,
Partridge, S
guitars, bass lines, drums, strings, brass, percussion,
special effects/ambient noise etc). As a musician and
songwriter (and more crucially a tutor of more capable
users of audio applications) I am acutely aware of the
appeal that such stems hold to the many songwriters and
growing numbers of users of software sequencers
around the world, many of whom desire access to the
best audio samples in the same way that professional
DJs perpetually seek that elusive dance floor-filling
rarity that their competitors have yet to uncover (see
italicized note, below). If this content could be made
readily available to the producers of music at an
affordable price then a new revenue stream for the
owners of this content might offer a new and attractive
model for a struggling industry to exploit.
NB. Stats are difficult to come by in relation
to global numbers of users of software
sequencers, but some initial research
indicated that over 1,000,000 people
worldwide use Sonar’s Cakewalk (the world's
leading music and sound software for
Windows
(http://iwritethemusic.com/software_sequenc
er.html)) products daily to produce audio for
CDs, film, TV, video games, live stage sound,
the Internet, and personal enjoyment.
Pro Tools is statistically twice as popular
(source:
http://www.digitalmusicdoctor.com/popularit
y.htm?PHPSESSID=a58645159e71869d0f37
9655cf49429e&PHPSESSID=474bf46fc5a99
0f42d383c92abcdcc93), and two other
sequencers (Steinberg’s Cubase and FL
Studio) are more popular than Cakewalk in
terms of the numbers of users. An array of
other sequencers (Logic, Ableton,
Garageband, Audition, Band-in-a-Box,
Sound Forge) have slightly fewer numbers of
users but the Digital Music Doctor’s web-
based poll would suggest a total number of
audio sequencer users exceeding 10 million.
And producers all desire the best content to
work with as they compete for profile,
notoriety and sales!
Having engaged in some fairly detailed initial
conversations with some trusted music management
contacts, I found the proposal very well received. I was
advised to explore how I might protect the idea and
having trawled through the Intellectual Property
Office’s website and database I was struggling with a
background bereft of any significant insight into either
the workings of the music business or intellectual
AES 131st Convention, New York, NY, USA, 2011 October 20–23
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Mash-Up
property law. This was addressed to some extent
following advice from colleagues at the University who
arranged for me to meet during Easter 2009 a solicitor at
Briffa, a company based at the Business design Centre
in Islington who specialise in the protection of
intellectual property. This was critical as at that time I’d
also started to discuss the project with colleagues from
AVID/Digidesign.
As the project started to appear more viable, in order to
take shape I next had to consider the most suitable
platform and format for the delivery. By now I’d
developed a brand name and identity that I was happy
with, since everyone I spoke to responded well to the
suggestion of the product being called Mash-Up.
Around this time I met Patrick Taylor from
Avid/Digidesign, manufacturers of video editing (Avid)
and audio editing software (ProTools). I discussed the
idea for Mash-Up with him, and he suggested that a
conversation with their product development team in
Los Angeles might be worth pursuing. ProTools
remains the world’s most popular audio sequencer, with
estimated market share relating to professionally
produced audio at that time of around 80%. I felt that if
Mash-Up could operate as a software plug-in within
ProTools then it would lead to an uncomplicated user
experience in that, once identified and paid for by the
user, audio files could be brought straight into ProTools
for immediate use. By this time I’d attempted to protect
the concept by registering a patent via the IPO website,
not really knowing what on earth I was doing but
feeling rather vulnerable such was the universally
positive response to the idea from all to date.
By the time I’d had a similar conversation with a
contact at Sony, this time on the premise that the
concept might be based on a gaming platform such as
the Xbox (linking conveniently to Sony Music and the
then prevalent Sony United initiative), I’d been advised
that by Silas Brown at Briffa that the patent application
would be worthless and should be withdrawn. I was
advised, however, to circulate non-disclosure
agreements which I subsequently did. Sony UK were
embroiled in a raft of redundancies at the time and I
wasn’t surprised that this was not prioritized and that I
didn’t hear back from them.
I did however discuss the proposal at length with
Tanguy Leborgne of Avid Technology/ProTools, and
although he seemed very keen he suggested that their
focus on a major project upgrade wouldn’t allow them
to prioritize this there and then, but he asked me to keep
him posted on developments.
A plan B had been developing at the back for my mind
while this was moving so slowly, and this was based on
a much simpler principle that was inspired by the non-
Partridge, S
proprietary philosophy/methodology of open source
software development. This was honed via conversation
with a newly appointed work colleague, Peter Hadfield,
whose professional background had included running a
successful dance music label and a small TV channel.
This contact and Peter’s insight proved invaluable
throughout the subsequent phase of development, not
least due to his unerring entrepreneurial spirit. Through
a series of conversations we both reached agreement
that a non-proprietary web-based user interface that
would feed audio into any of the many sequencers in a
growing market would maximize the potential of the
concept. For me low cost and ease of use would be key,
and Peter focused on the need to be able to demonstrate
very clearly how content owners would stand to earn
additional income via the technology. We had identified
the need for a robust search engine and, while I still like
the idea of developing the concept further (such as for
gaming platforms, and possibly to include video), there
was a tangible need now to hone the concept into
something deliverable.
In order to convince an industry-based partner that the
concept might be viable Peter was adamant that I’d need
to develop and be able to demonstrate the workings of a
prototype. In order to appeal to users we both felt that
content would be key, and Peter’s assertion was that an
approach to the larger independent labels should be our
secondary goal in order both to access content that
might be of interest to users and to offer such labels a
model for generating a new stream of income via a
digital platform. The development of such a prototype
required skills bases that lie beyond either of us, and
this would clearly require some investment to develop.
Having explored various types of business start up
scheme such as Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, the
head of the University’s enterprise unit alerted us to a
pot that we could bid for up to £5,000 in order to
develop a prototype for what she too felt was a strong
idea. Having discussed the project with an experienced
and capable IT expert and web developer, I duly put the
honed concept onto a Powerpoint presentation and
secured funding to develop the prototype. Delivery of
the first iteration of the prototype is imminent, and it is
upon the testing of this that I’d like to base my PhD
proposal.
Proposed Methodology (testing the application)
A large proportion of the primary research would be
concerned with the testing and development of Mash-
Up, namely my structured interactions with users of its
prototype and the analysis of user-generated data. The
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Mash-Up
initial pool of users will be to some extent untypically
specialist in that they will be Audio & Music Production
undergraduate students with aspirations towards careers
as audio or music producers. The planned trajectory for
the enterprise project, however, is to develop confidence
in the prototype as quickly as possible in order to be
able to take Mash-Up to market as soon as possible.
The process by which the prototype would be taken to
market, however, will constitute engagement with a
much broader user base in terms of its specialist
knowledge. Should the product become a commercial
entity in a consumer-led marketplace, then the ‘click
through’ data will be generated by a very different user
group. The design of the data generation, collection and
evaluation processes are therefore critical to the
sustained usefulness of the data itself. The testing and
modeling of this data will constitute an immediate
priority, as the setting up of the prototype for initial use
by the student user-group is imminent.
The users in question would be Audio & Music
Production second year undergraduate students
undertaking a module entitled Music Production and
Programming. Their Course Leader, Warren Bassett,
was extremely keen to engage the students in this way
as the tasks and processes relate directly to learning
objectives for the module and would assist an exciting
and innovative delivery of this aspect of the curriculum.
Warren has great insight into the Mash-Up project
having advised extensively as an experienced and
successful industry-based music producer and audio
engineer.
The intention is for this combination of approaches to
shed light on the motivation and decision-making of
contemporary music producers. The implications for
this research are of course difficult to define at this
stage, and the academic trajectory is inextricably linked
to an inevitably volatile enterprise project. My hope
despite this volatility, however, is that the methodology
suggested will enable a meaningful contribution to
previous audio and music based cultural theory-oriented
research.
How the context relates to Mash-Up and related
contemporary media products
The success of interactive video gaming through titles
such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band demonstrated a
consumer appetite for active engagement with audio
content. Their lack of sophistication, however, has
limited the longevity of their appeal. In addition to this,
the growing number of producers and re-mixers who
Partridge, S Mash-Up

use sophisticated audio sequencing software (such as expertise concerning rights and intellectual property
ProTools, Apple Logic, Reason, Ableton, Adobe Encore (Peter Hadfield).
etc) desire access to ‘stems’, or audio files produced by
of popular contemporary artists, for creative re-use
within their own songs. Furthermore, the (recorded) 2. REFERENCES
music industry is desperate to identify new ways in Alderman, J (2001) Sonic Boom: Napster, MP3, and the
which it can monetize the content that it owns, given the New Pioneers of Music New York: Perseus
fact that the fiscal value of recorded music has
plummeted so emphatically over the last decade. Frith, S (2002) interview by Jason Gross for Perfect
Key Problems: Sound Forever (online). Available from:
The central to the development of a universal audio file http://www.furious.com/perfect/simonfrith.html
database has always been down to licensing, in that no [accessed November 25th 2010]
producer or content owner wants to make their property
available for re-use without assurances that they will be Godin, S (2005) Knock Knock [online] Available from:
paid satisfactorily. Although some re-mix applications http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2005/09/free_e
exist (such as eJay (http://www.ejay- book_1_no.html [accessed October 21st 2010]
store.co.uk/index.html) and GoMix (http://gomix.com/)),
there has not yet been the development of an easy-to- Goodwin, Andrew. “Rationalization and
use non-proprietary solution that links to a viable and Democratization in the New Technologies of Popular
robust payment mechanism. Music.” in Popular Music Studies Reader. eds. Andy
A Solution?: Bennett, Barry Shank and Jason Toynbee. New York:
Mash-Up constitutes a website that would allow users to Routledge, 2006.
search for content via an easy-to-use front end, and
would house a sophisticated database that would make Jenkins, H (2006) Convergance Culture: where old and
audio files available to users via a fully automated audit new media collide New York: NYU Press
mechanism that would easily link to any payment
mechanism (incorporating processes from Paypal to Kusek, D (ed) (2005) The Future of Music: Manifesto
subscription-based models). for the Digital music Revolution Boston: Berklee
While ‘cloud-based’ developments such as Nokia’s
Comes With Music and Spotify serve audiences though
streaming of content, the need to download high
resolution (24 bit) audio is a pre-requisite for the
producer/re-mixer.
Challenges:
The success of Mash-Up will most probably depend
upon the extent to which a database of appealing
content can be generated. Once the product has been
developed and tested using a small quantity of content
the plan is to then demonstrate its capability to a number
of the larger UK based independent labels in a bid to
extend the catalogue of audio files and therefore
enhance its appeal to prospective users.

1. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Development Team:
Other then myself this consists of a programmer (Dr
Indrachapa Bandara), an experienced audio producer
(Warren Bassett) and a former label-owner with

AES 131st Convention, New York, NY, USA, 2011 October 20–23
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