Audacious Groove #1 (Funk)

I've finally got around to recording my first mix in absolutely ages, so I'm really pleased with myself. This mix is just straight up Funk in it's rawest form, the majority is made up from tracks from the 70s, although there's a bit of newer stuff in there too. Not much beatmatching as it's tricky to do with this style of music, and I find that trying to do anything too flashy with music like this actually takes away rather than adding anything, so I decided to let the music speak for itself for this one. A lot of the other music I play (Disco, 80s Synth Funk, House etc.) lends itself much more to beatmatching and blends.

As I said, this is my first mix that I've uploaded for ages, about 18 months in fact. The reason it's been so long is that I went through a tricky time with mixing whilst I pondered my future and what I wanted to play. Then once I got back into it it just took me ages to get back to the stage where I was happy enough with my core skills, music collection and track selection abilities to want to record anything. Then it took me a while to get around to it, and it took a few attempts to get right. But I got there in the end!

One thing that really frustrated me was that just after I uploaded this mix I got an email from Soundcloud saying that it had been removed again because of 'copyright infringement'. The track in question was the very first song - Soul Man by Sam and Dave. Now I'm all in favour of artists being paid for their work and I acquire all of my music legally, but this strikes me as pointless. I could understand it if I was making any money out of the mix, or I was offering up the song on its own for download, but as part of a mix I see it as more of a celebration of the songs, and if anything it's promoting the song on the label's behalf for free. Literally half of the music I buy is due to Soundcloud mixes - I listen to a mix, note down where in the mix there are songs that I want, Shazam them and then buy them. So I don't really see who gains from mixes being taken down like this - yes technically I do need their permission to use it, but I acquired it legally, they made money from me buying it, and what I'm doing doesn't cost them any money, and might even make them some. Seems to me like another case of record labels throwing the book at everyone in a vain attempt to protect their work, but in the end it does the opposite. Thanks Atlantic Records.

Luckily it was the first track, and the lack of mixing on my part made it easy to do a quick edit and reupload. But it's a shame because it's a great track, and I thought it was an appropriate start to my new mix series as well. Anyway, here's the rest of the mix, hope you enjoy!


TRACKLIST

Sam & Dave - Soul Man 
Otis Redding - Hard To Handle
Commodores - Slippery When Wet
The Haggis Horns - The Bump
Inez Foxx - Watch The Dog That Brings The Bone
The Isley Brothers - It's Your Thing
Black Ivory - Surrender
Gloria Jones - Windstorm
Pimp Rekker - Mission & 24th
Uptown Funk Empire - We Stand at the Back of the Bus
Parliament - Give Up The Funk
Leroy Hutson - Blackberry Jam
Ann Sexton - Sugar Daddy
Brass Construction - Get Up To Get Down
Sly And The Family Stone - Thank You
Ohio Players - Fire (DJ Prince Remix)
The Soul Snatchers - Scratch My Itch
James Brown - Give It Up Or Turnit A Loose
Elijah Collins & Tee-J - I Used to Feel Alright
Marva Whitney - Unwind Yourself
The Mighty Showstoppers - Shaft in Africa
Mass Production - People Get Up
The O'Jays - Love Train

This is the first of hopefully many in the Audacious Groove series, and I'll be trying to get them uploaded on a regular basis. Episode 2 is already done so will be up soon... Let's hope that one doesn't fall foul of copyright too! Please feel free to let me know what you think, both of the mix and of the copyright issue. Is it going too far or does intellectual property always need defending to this level, even when in my opinion there don't seem to be any clear winners in this case?