When Prosecuting 12 Year Olds Just Isn't Enough

[livius drusus]

Did you know that record store owners and employees are getting arrested for selling hip-hop mixtapes? The record companies and artists specifically release the tracks to DJs so they can make remixes and advertize the product before the CD is out, but then they turn around and charge record store owners with felonies for selling those same mixes.

The Tale of the Tapes

wtf

Here's how mixtapes work: Record companies release hip-hop artists' new songs as both finished products and separate musical and vocal tracks. These tracks are made available to D.J.'s, who piece them together to create remixes. These mixes, distributed largely through retail stores, thus give fans the latest music available — and whet consumers' appetite for official releases issued later.

Now here's the kicker: virtually every mixtape features at least one famous rapper either "hosting" that mix or adding a "drop," in which the performer gives a shout-out to the D.J. For example, D.J. Drama's recent mixtape, "The Leak," remixes songs from "King" by rapper T.I. — and the first thing you hear on it is T.I.'s voice proclaiming this mix to be "a monumental moment in music." The mixtape certainly hasn't hurt T.I.'s sales: "King" just made its debut at No. 1 on the Billboard chart.

Every hip-hop artist of any consequence has participated in mixtapes. Jadakiss, Eminem, NAS and 50 Cent have all "hosted" mixtapes. So have rappers who also run record labels — including Jermaine Dupree, P. Diddy, Jay-Z and Damon Dash.

Mixtapes are street-level, do-it-yourself products that have grown into a multimillion-dollar business. So record companies (aware of the promotional power of these tapes) provide music to D.J.'s specifically for mixes, and the rappers themselves — who are often the copyright holders — endorse the mixtapes by appearing on them. Are we to really believe that the recording industry doesn't want these mixes distributed to fans? Of course it does.

[viscousmemories]

Hm, the very fact that it would be completely irrational for a record company to encourage retailers to distribute mixes and then press charges against those who do it makes me skeptical of that op-ed. It seems likely to me that the stores that are getting raided are suspected of distributing unauthorized mixes in addition to the standard promos.

[livius drusus]

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

Hm, the very fact that it would be completely irrational for a record company to encourage record companies to distribute mixes and then press charges against those who do it makes me skeptical of that op-ed.

I think the idea is that there's a distinction between encouraging distribution to DJs who will play the mixes in clubs and parties and get a lot of attention, and encouraging distribution to regular joes who are just going to listen to it themselves.

Originally Posted by viscousmemories

It seems likely to me that the stores that are getting raided are suspected of distributing unauthorized mixes in addition to the standard promos.

Could be, although I don't think I'd call a DJ-created mix a standard promo. I'll get Google right on it.

[Petra]

My Sweet Lord, record companies have less fucking vision than roadkill! I mean, I knew they didn't have much, but none-at-all? Fuckwits.

Let them die, stewing in their own juice. Those backward behemoths have choked the crap out of music for long enough.

[D. Scarlatti]

Hear, hear.

Originally Posted by pepperspray

My Sweet Lord

The subject of an interesting copyright case, incidentally.

[Petra]

Originally Posted by D. Scarlatti

Hear, hear.

The subject of an interesting copyright case, incidentally.

Ooooh, I could go on another tangent there, but best I just go to bed now, methinks.


(I thought it was bloody cheeky when the Rolling Stones sued The Verve for plagiarising ...ahhh, forgot which song....when they "plagiarised" Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, et al, their whole music career!)


I love music, but the music industry is full of dicks.

[ManM]

I'm waiting for them to start suing people for the crime of not listening to the music they sell.

[D. Scarlatti]

If you're talking about the stuff in the OP, I'm looking at several consecutive life sentences.

[Tanda]

[SharonDee]

Originally Posted by pepperspray

I love music, but the music industry is full of dicks.

Don't I know it! I work with/for a few of them.

[godfry n. glad]

I've got a friend who says many of the roadies and techies who travelled with the Grateful Dead came from his home town, and he consequently had an excellent opportunity to hang with the Dead. His conclusion: Jerry was a butthead.

[D. Scarlatti]

He was also responsible for one of the worst records ever made, and that's enough for me.



Except I don't think Jerry counts as a record company weasel, and I have a couple of his ties, which are cool.

[Ari]

The recording industry is going to hang itself soon enough and everyone will be happy about it, except talentless hacks who couldn't survive without multi-million dollar marketing and lawyers.

[livius drusus]

I'm bumping this thread on the occasion of a mixtape bust that's making the news because of how big the DJ's are. Apparently they're being accused of running an organized crime operation because they distribute unauthorized mixed versions of copyrighted material. The chief of police is talking a RICO prosecution. Boggles the mind, really.

DJ Drama Arrested in Mixtape Raid
RIAA Speaks On DJ Drama Raid: 'We Enforce Our Rights'
DJ Drama and Don Cannon Arrested on Some Bullshit

[Dingfod]

All they would need to do is make it a parody and they'd be protected. Note, however, that Weird Al Yankovich usually gets permission from his parody targets.

[D. Scarlatti]

Originally Posted by livius drusus

DJ Drama and Don Cannon Arrested on Some Bullshit

I don't quite follow this guy's argument. Why does he think there should be an intellectual property free-for-all? Is he saying the mixtape guys are generating sales for the artists whose music they appropriate in making the mixtape?

What is a "mixtape" anyway, a bunch of different records fading in and out over a drum machine track?

eta: nm, I just read the OP again. I have a hard time generating sympathy for the DJs I'm afraid. The problem, as usual, is artists signing over everything and their first born to record companies, who often enjoy aggressively prosecuting their rights of ownership to property they themselves have arguably stolen from the artists.

[livius drusus]

Naw, not quite. Mixtapes are usually advanced releases of either unsigned artists, or artists who are about to release a label CD. DJs play them in clubs and on the radio generating buzz (and therefore bigger sales) for the eventual label release.

The problem arises when the mixtapes start selling in the thousands instead of just being played by DJs or bought/traded here and there. Here's a NYT article on the subject today.

[D. Scarlatti]

Has anyone ascribed the slide in record sales to the fact that the product is shite?

[Dingfod]

I have, but industry experts aren't listening to me, the non-buying public.

[Watser?]

Here is an initiative which tries to promote artists while avoiding the music industry. In Sellaband people who like a band or artist can buy shares. As soon as a certain number of shares is sold an album is released.

[Stormlight]

That sounds interesting.