Grey Tuesday

[king mob]

This story is currently doing the rounds, may interest a few here.

It's time for music fans to stand up and demand change from the music industry's copyright cartel.

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.

Full story here.

[Sherringford Hovis]

I'm bumpin' this simply because I believe that it's very important: I sent out some emails to people I thought would be interested the other day and again first thing this morning: feel free to copy and paste if you want to. The main message is simply the official press release - understandably, some of the sites involved are quite wobbly, and a few have been taken down already following 'cease and desist' communiques.

http://www.greytuesday.org/

Contact:
Holmes Wilson - hw@downhillbattle.org
Nicholas Reville - npr@downhillbattle.org
Downhill Battle (www.dowhillbattle.org)
Grey Tuesday (www.greytuesday.org)
Phone: 508-963-7832 / Fax: 775-878-0379

"Grey Tuesday" Civil Disobedience Planned February 24th Against Copyright Cartel

DOWNHILL BATTLE -- A coalition of websites will join in an online protest to offer free downloads of a critically acclaimed album that is being censored by a lawsuit threat from EMI Records. The action is an act of civil disobedience against a copyright regime that routinely suppresses musical innovation. The Grey Album, which remixes Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles' White Album, has been hailed as a innovative hip-hop triumph, but EMI sent cease-and-desist letters to any record store that stocked it. This Tuesday ("Grey Tuesday") the coalition of sites will offer free downloads of the Grey Album, and turn their pages grey, to take a stand against a copyright regime that serves neither musicians nor the public interest.

Any site can get information on how to join the action at greytuesday.org.

"Grey Tuesday will be the first protest of its kind," said Downhill Battle co-founder Holmes Wilson, "The major record labels have turned copyright law into a weapon, but participants in this action will be ignoring EMI's threats and insisting on the public's right to hear innovative new music."

"EMI isn't looking for compensation, they're trying to ban a work of art," said Downhill Battle's Rebecca Laurie. "The record industry has become a huge drag on creativity and it's only getting worse--it's time to take a stand."

The Grey Album has been widely shared on filesharing networks such as Kazaa and Soulseek, and has garnered critical acclaim in Rolling Stone (which called it "the ultimate remix record" and "an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time"), the New Yorker, the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), and other major news outlets.

"It's clear that this work devalues neither of the originals. There is no legitimate artistic or economic reason to ban this record; this is just arbitrary exertion of control," said Nicholas Reville, Downhill Battle co-founder. "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, and now the public is fighting back."

The reporters and news outlets that reviewed the Grey Album have obtained it illegally from filesharing networks. "If music reviewers have to break the law to hear new, innovative music, then something has gone wrong with the law," said Laurie.

"Remixes and pastiche are a defining aesthetic of our era. How will artists continue to work if corporations can outlaw what they do?" said Reville. "Artists, writers, and musicians have always borrowed and built upon each other's work;" now they have to answer to corporate legal teams."

College and noncommercial radio stations will also be participating in Tuesday's action by playing the Grey Album in its entirety (possibly along with the Jay-Z and Beatles sources).


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NOTE
* Obviously, for reasons of good employer relations and professionalism, you shouldn't attempt this sort of download on a work computer - unless you have specific permission, or own the company, of course!
* Getting your copy from one of the hosts listed by http://www.greytuesday.org/ might be a good idea - the main sites' bandwidth will be hammered enough this week.
* If you can't see http://www.greytuesday.org/, Googling up a mirror is a sound option: there's about 200 and counting...
* If you regularly use BitTorrent/Kazaa/Soulseek or another filesharing method/site, sticking a copy up for everyone else would probably be something that you consider to be altruistic.
* Burning copies for your friends, leaving copies in players and PCs in electrical stores, knocking up some sleeve art and surreptitiously dropping boxed discs onto the shelves of music shops or handing 'em out in the street are all imaginative forms of protest.
* If you're thinking of forwarding this email to friends, cut and paste it into a new mail, DON'T just hit the forward button - those little arrows annoy everyone (and detract from the original message)
* Careful wording helps avoid trouble - see below.

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Nothing in this email constitutes incitement to consider, prepare for or perform any 'criminal' act that may exist under the provisions of local, state, national or international law, and is purely for the purposes of criticism and review. What any recipient of this mail chooses to do with the information contained here or that which is obtainable through any hyperlinks provided is in no way the responsibility of the sender.
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[TOCMFIC]

See the record companies have been sending cease and desists out to any site participating that they can find. If I had a site with bandwidth to burn, I'd have done this as the whole thing is a massive abuse of the copyright system. (The Grey Album is actually quite good.)

I just wish doing all this stuff would actually change things, but really, whats the point? A couple of years ago I'd be all over this cheering for it, but while I'd have gladly hosted the MP3's if I could, I'm just to disillusioned to bother anymore.

[hanbag nigel]

great concept - but gotta say it's all very good publicity. DJ Dangermouse is a damn fine hip hop dj with some great mixes, but the grey album is just something he appears to have kncoked up... great publicity .... not so great substance

[The Region Legion]

That bastard record company, trying to stop someone ripping off one of their acts. THAT'S JUST NOT ON.

*cough*

[Sherringford Hovis]

That bastard record company, trying to stop someone ripping off one of their acts. THAT'S JUST NOT ON.

*cough*

Fuck 'em - the record companies rip everyone off all the time anyway. If the record companies were to argue "but we have this huge backcatalogue to maintain", maybe they could justify both their ridiculous prices and the shoddy way they treat performers, but the simple fact is that 80% of the music ever recorded is unavailable to buy; the comedy figure is probably even higher.

I'm just to disillusioned to bother anymore.

Morelike you're just too tired to bother - domesticity kills creativity, originality and individuality; the latest battle for humanity's freedom will be lost under a mountain of shitty nappies and mortgage payments,

[weekender]

great concept - but gotta say it's all very good publicity. DJ Dangermouse is a damn fine hip hop dj with some great mixes, but the grey album is just something he appears to have kncoked up... great publicity .... not so great substance

Really?  I downloaded the Grey Album, and I'm quite impressed by it so far.  Is his other stuff better then?