Everything Is A Remix

This is reminiscent of the bible quote "there is nothing new under the sun", and yet innovation still occurs.

Nice.

I have to admit I've done this quite a lot.

It's the easiest way to get things done.

"You Don't Even Need Skills"

That's where a remix devolves into a hodgepodge ...and fails.

All this is doing is telling non copywriters to use other letters as a template, without a second thought. Or, really, any thought at all.

The remix or mashup is an interesting concept. It can lead to a creative, even innovative, new work. The dark side of copy-and-paste by the supremely untalented, the lazy and the unskilled can't be ignored.

Finally, the result of the copy-and-paste, Google image view is my free clipart library, is that the people doing it value the material at nothing. And why would you spend time or effort improving or creating innovative new works when you value what you take at zero? Why would you develop the skill needed to understand how to remix?

Most answer -- in deed if not in word -- you wouldn't.

The problem with this is you do need skill and talent to remix. And the people doing it have the exact opposite opinion.

This is the preable to the constitution governing the rip-off culture today.

Possibly the most interesting post I've seen on the Warrior Forum.

Which reminds me...talking about Led Zeppelin...a muso I knew was on holidays in Fiji years ago and met a long-haired guy in the resort's bar. After a few beers he asked him what he did for a living. Guy said he "did a bit of singing".

They talked about music for a while and my mate, on leaving, said "If you're ever in Australia...give me a ring...I might be able to get you a gig".

Finds out later he'd been talking to Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin (the rip-offs highlighted in the first video of this series).

BTW has someone compiled a list of I.M. salescopy that is ripped off from other salescopy? I'd like to see that. I seem to remember reading that Frank Kern opened a John Carlton salespage and copied it for his first salesletter. "Underachiever" maybe? Maybe the one mentioned in Harlan's book on copywriting - "Steal This Book" (a title ripped off from yippie Abbie Hoffman's book of the same name BTW).

In the video it talks about Hunter S. Thompson copying The Great Gatsby, to get a feel for great writing. He did not then submit it to publishers and try to get paid for it.

Halbert talked about writing out sales letters. Not sending them as your own.

That is a point the video makes. It is a point missed by many viewers.

I am interested in a letter that steals from dozens of letters, and manages to come across as a coherent seamless whole.

Brainless swiping needs no advocacy. It's quite popular anyway.

Quite a few would be shocked that there's any other way to use a swipe file.

Certian ideas are a recipe for mischief. This is one.

This whole video series is incredible.

I don't know how many of you have been lucky enough to get your hands on Eugene Schwartz' book The Brilliance Breakthrough, or on his talks to Agora and Phillips, but those... mixed with these videos... pretty much define the process of creating, for me.

This link belongs on the first page.

- Alex