Grey Tuesday, 267 and counting
p2pnet.net Action News:- Get back, EMI! Get back.
The EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) will be going Grey on February 24, the date chosen by DownhillBattle.org as its biggest and baddest online protest so far.
Designated Grey Tuesday, it’s all about EMI’s ill-advised decision to fire Cease and Desist letters at anyone carrying DJ Danger Mouse’s Grey Album, the limited edition art project/experiment that uses the full vocal content of Jay-Z’s Black Album recorded over new beats and production, with the Beatles White Album as the sole source material.
EMI rigidly controls all Beatles sound recordings for Capitol Records. Sony Music/ATV Publishing controls the publishing side.
A mere 24 hours ago, 97 sites had promised to host the Grey Album for 24 hours, with a further 40 saying they’ll Go Grey for the day.
The number has now reached 180 with 87 sites Going Grey. And you can be sure that’s not the end of it.
“There’s no legitimate artistic or economic reason to ban this record – this is just arbitrary exertion of control,” says DHB’s Nicholas Reville.
“The framers of the constitution created copyright to promote innovation and creativity. A handful of corporations have radically perverted that purpose for their own narrow self interest. Remixes and pastiche are a defining aesthetic of our era.
“How will artists continue to work if corporations can outlaw what they do. Artists and musicians have always borrowed and built upon each others work now they have to answer to corporate interests.”
We’re told EMI’s lawyers are firing off C&D emails as fast as they can go to sites which have said they’ll post the Grey Album, hoping to block the effort.
Whether or not C&D emails are an effective – or indeed legal – mode of distribution is one of the current questions.
In the meanwhile, the world’s press is watching the proceedings keenly.
Stay tuned …
February 24th, 2004 at 7:15 am
With all due respect to ‘rappers’ and ‘hip-hoppers’the world over………Sample what you’ve been given rights to sample. The Beatles are, and always will be, WAAAAY beyond you types.
February 24th, 2004 at 2:59 pm
rights , wrongs? we don’t even play your game. your model is outdated. move over or get trapeled by real arts