In the blog post announcing a series of new features on the video looping app Vine in August 2015, Jason Mante, Head of UX, wrote, “Today marks the beginning of our commitment to strengthening the connection between music and Vine.” These features included a “Snap to Beat” function that identifies a place to make a perfect loop within a video and trims it accordingly. Turning off this function allows users to have more control over the editing process.

More importantly, Vine added a discovery component to its app that enables users to easily identify the song used in a particular Vine.

In the same blog post, Mante draws attention to the sonic aspect of a Vine, arguing for its importance in making a good Vine: “To date, our creation tools have focused on the visual components of your Vines. By focusing on how your Vines sound, you can make better Vines, and share new music for the world to uncover.” Because sound is an important part of the Vine environment, connecting sound with source is an important part of how users engage with the app. This discovery feature allows users to identify the song used in a Vine, and by clicking on the name of the song, users can see other Vines that use the same song. Connecting Vines in this way is an essential part of Vine’s collaborative culture and emphasis on sharing content. Drawing on Vine’s stated purpose of “strengthening connections outside of our apps,” the discovery feature brings remixers– users who combine audio and video from different sources– closer to the things they remix, and allows them to connect with others who use the same materials.

Vine’s user culture is one of collaboration and remix, and through the introduction of features making this easier, Vine has become a unique venue for remix online. Because of its mobile platform, Vine brands itself as democratic, connective, and accessible. This environment makes remix a mainstream act of creation, but only to those within the specific culture of Vine.

How has Vine rebranded the remix for its own purposes? How does this intersect with other types of remix and change our perspective on them? I explore these questions in the following sections, then move on to considering the legal implications of Vine’s remix culture, and finally, in the wake of Vine’s recent announcement that it will discontinue its mobile apps, I consider what may be the future of this kind of remix.

Use the links above to navigate the sections of this webtext.