These songs cost upwards of $14 apiece, and people are actually
paying  If you haven’t heard of DJ Earworm, you’ve probably
heard his mixes: His “United State of Pop,”a series of massive
mash-ups that turn 12 months worth of top-40 hits into a single
song, take over the internet once a year like clockwork. But
even with over 100 million views on Youtube and a commission to
make mashups for the London Olympics, DJ Earworm has never been
able to sell his music legally. Now he’s the latest artist to
join Legitmix, a website that uses unique software and a
loophole in copyright law to pay remixers. But what makes
Legitmix legal also makes Earworm’s songs cost more than most
albums.  “To put out a remix or mashup,” Legitmix founder Omid
McDonald told Quartz, “you need to get licenses for both the
sound recording and composition of the sampled songs. This
expensive, complicated, and time consuming process makes it
impossible for most remixers to legally distribute their work.”
Legitmix uses an algorithm—one that M