Mashing Online Music Videos… I Don’t Get It

This courtesy of Adatos:

Viewing a music video online usually requires paying a small fee, but Reuters has announced that Eyespot.com has created an environment where consumers can remix videos and post them on the Web site free of charge.eye.jpg

The posting of such mash-ups is legal because participating artists decide on the material that will be made available to users. According to Eyespot co-founder, president, and CEO Jim Kaskade, these emerging bands quickly saw the value in allowing fans to experiment with their audio and visual assets, prompting them to hand over material, hold competitions, and establish online communities.

On Eyespot, anyone can upload, edit, mix, and share almost all forms of digital media without downloading new software. Rather than charge users for their video work, Eyespot will instead get revenue from advertising, premium additional services, and a share on sales of commercial content generated by free samples.

This courtesy of me:

I'm sorry. I don't get it. I really like EyeSpot — I've never spent much time there, but the logo is so darned cute. But here's where I'm having trouble: I understand people watching music videos. And I understand people shooting music videos. But I don't really understand the desire to "mash" other content. It seems like it would be all the fun organizing books in a library by title, topic or color.

This is the third craze that I haven't understood. The first was U2 (odds are you love them) and the second was "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" (which I found quite frustrating).