February 22, 2004

Going Grey

While I'm not a fan of the record oligarchy, I'm not too sure of this:

Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work.

DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z's the Black Album and the Beatles White Album, and called it the Grey Album. Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone ("an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time") and the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968 White Album.

What about compensating artists when you sample their works? And this is somewhat like someone taking your shit, combining it with their shit and then saying you have no say over how it's used, and you won't get a cent from them if they sell it. Open up copyright, but don't steal and tell me you're doing a good thing.

Posted by ronn at February 22, 2004 10:35 AM

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Tracked on February 25, 2004 12:37 AM

Comments
Hmm. I have a copy of it sitting here with me and some tracks on my radio.blog. Wonder if someone else would like a sample...hmm? Posted by: ej on February 24, 2004 06:57 PM
Bootlegger! LOL Well not really, it's not like you're making any money off of it. I'm still apprehensive about supporting this effort since the artists aren't reaping the $$ benefits. [ *ahem* which radio.blog? ;-) ] Posted by: ronn on February 24, 2004 08:17 PM