Remixing a well-known artist?

You never know, she might remember. It’s always a toss up. Legally you are up the proverbial manure creek. It’s just not allowed to tamper with someone else’s work without express written permission bladibladibla.

On the other hand if you put out a really awesome remix you might get noticed by someone (including the original artist) or you can just get slapped with a take-down notice and a stern message from their lawyer.

I doubt you’ll be successful in acquiring stems or even acapella’s, but it’s free to ask, right?

Then again, asking for permission has two distinct disadvantages, while the chance of success could be relatively small. The first is that you’ll draw attention to your plan, so while you might not even get a reply, you’ll be on the spotting list. Second, you might just get a flat out NO and then what? If you decide to put out the remix anyway, they’ll have no problem proving you did so DESPITE explicit instructions otherwise.

This is all clearly on general terms. I’d see if could somehow wiggle her liking your instagram photo into some sort of informal contact where you could, just in passing, query how she feels about people doing remixes of her work.

At the end of the day, it’s your call.

I am old skool, so would settle for mail. But again, PM in social media might work better. If you mail, you’ll most likely end up on the desk of a secretary of the company minding the artists business and NO’s are far more likely there as they think business first and foremost, not creatively. Again, if you have any way of dropping a quick note to the tune of “hi, love your track, dying to do a remix of it, would that be ok and is there any chance of getting an acappella?” to the artist, that might just get a response.

It’s what I would consider. Isn’t there an “artists linkedin”? You can see who you know that knows the artist.