In an interview with Forbes Magazine, Gillis stated: Since he takes such small portions of a song and rearranges each clip so that it is almost unrecognizable, Gillis argues that his work falls within the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law. Instead of navigating the complicated channels of copyright law, Gillis continues to toe legal line. Due to the fact that Gillis makes use of several dozen samples per song, a single five-minute track produced under the Girl Talk moniker could cost tens of millions of dollars, a cost that would certainly prohibit the creation of multiple works (Copyright and Mashups). In order for the sampling to be cleared under copyright law, Gillis would have to get permission from both the publisher and owner of each individual sound recording. The controversy surrounding Girl Talk hits at the very foundation of Gillis’ work.

“I want to be a musician and not just a party D.J.” “And like any musician I want to put out a classic album (New York Times, 2008).” While some might consider Gillis to be nothing more than a skillful DJ, the artist insists that his work is unique and deserves to be treated with the same deference as the work of any other mainstream pop musician. The first song off his 2010 release “All Day” showcases no fewer than 24 unique clips from 22 artists.

Gillis has reached celebrity status within the remix community for his artful combining of songs from various artists and genres. Over the last decade, Gillis has released five albums, each of which has received a great deal of attention not only for their infectious dance beats, but also for Gillis’ unabashed sampling of the original works of popular musicians. In 2002, Pittsburg native Gregg Gillis, better known by his musical persona Girl Talk, released his first album, “Secret Diary,” under the controversial Illegal Art label.

Girltalk mashup