UPDATE
February 24 - Grey Tuesday is now on. Downhill Battle received a cease and desist order on the protest from EMI's lawyers. This is their response:
Mr. Jensen and EMI:
We have received your February 23 email concerning our plans to make the Grey Album available on our website.
Despite your letter, Downhill Battle will be posting the Grey Album on our website tomorrow. Your efforts to suppress this music stifle creativity and harm the public interest; we will not be intimidated into backing down. Downhill Battle has a fair-use right to post this music under current copyright law and the public has a fair-use right to hear it. Opposing EMI’s censorship campaign is precisely the purpose of Tuesday’s protest and we won’t waiver from that goal.
The current legal environment allows the five major record labels to dictate to musicians what kind of music they may and may not create and allows them to prevent the public from hearing music that does not fall within their rules. For people to make an informed decision about whether the major record labels and existing copyright law serve the interests of musicians and the public, they need to be able to hear the music that is being suppressed. The Grey Tuesday protest is about ensuring that this music is widely available so that the public can make informed decisions. Copyright was created by Congress to "promote the progress of science and the useful arts." Your actions violate that purpose. Any lawsuit against us will bring more attention to both the protest and the need for serious copyright reform, and we expect to win any case on fair-use grounds.
Our posting of the Grey Album on Downhill Battle is a political act with no commercial interest and fits well within fair use rights. Lawyers have advised us that we can ignore your demands number 2, 3, and 4 that are listed at the bottom of your letter. EMI has no legal right to make these demands and we will not comply with them. Furthermore, if EMI attempts to disrupt our protest by sending takedown letters to participating websites, ISPs of participating websites, or any upstream ISPs, we will file a counter-suit against you. We consider any attempts to stifle this protest to be an abuse under section 512F of the DMCA.
Sincerely,
Nicholas Reville
Holmes Wilson
Article comments
1 - Dew
I get it now!!
I listened to the album and I loved it. So far Threat and 99 Problems, as on the Black album, are my favorites. Danger did his thing on this album. Creatively I can only imagine what he was thinking. He had to be zoning on this one in order to come with such breaks and to mesh the albums in most cases seamlessly.
I believe this album would be one hell of a seller and I'm sure servers are being burnt out as we speak with people looking for this ingenious remix.
With all that praise out of the way I still have to say that artist should in most cases hold the rights to who is afforded opportunity to sample and use their music. In the same respects most artist, true artists that is, would see the artistic necessity in such an album as The Grey Album.
2 - Eric Olsen
Very interesting and perceptive thoughts Dew, thanks!
3 - Craig Lyndall
This is a really good album. I am not even a big hip-hop fan, but it is quite an impressive mix.
4 - Mark Saleski
happy grey tuesday everybody.
i did not download the album.
i am not enjoying it as i type this.
that would be (***shudder***) moral relativism.
;-)
5 - Al Barger
The Downhill Battle link isn't working. Any other convenient site I can go to?
6 - adam.b
I'm participating in Grey Tuesday.
I received a cease & decist letter yesterday.
My response to the cease and decist letter is posted here.
7 - Craig Lyndall
Despite all the other political issues, don't let it be lost that this album is really very well and creatively done.
8 - Brian Flemming
FYI, for anyone having trouble with the Downhill Battle or Illegal Art servers, the link to the album at my blog seems to be holding up.
9 - Al Barger
adam b- Thanks for the hook-up. I'ma jamming it now.
Thank you too, Brian.
10 - Mark Saleski
two thumbs up from me. loads 'o fun.
11 - Shark
Not only is the site black and white, but it's silent!
12 - Jim Carruthers
While some people have responded by quoting "Piggies" from The White Album, I think the Sex Pistols said it best:
Can the mainstream record companies screw themselves even more? First it is John Oswald, then Negativland, then the Evolution Control Committee, now Danger Mounse. Hey, EMI, guess what I'm not buying any of your albums until you apoligize, and I'm urging all of my record buying friends (y'know us adults who have disposible income). to boycott EMI. Assholes.
13 - Dave
Not my cup of tea, but good luck to 'em.
14 - Natalie Davis
Late to the party -- my blog is down or else I would've participated -- but I just got to hear the Grey Album. Wow! And The Man doesn't want the public to hear it. Fuckin' figures. Thanks to all who participated by posting the album and/or going grey for the day.
15 - Eric Olsen
Yes, thanks, all very interesting, Downhill Battle is calling it a great success. Thanks to Brian for the backup.
16 - mars sanford
Would it be redundant for me to review the actual content of the album without focusing on the contraversy? I've had it on replay for like 3 days now, and I'm dying to resurface in the blogcritics sphere.
17 - Eric Olsen
Mars, Sure, go right ahead, would be very helpful in understanding the whole picture.
18 - mars sanford
Thanks EO, I'll cross-link of course. Expect it later today.
PS, My compliments on your always-quick turn around on replies!
19 - Joey Daytona
There is an upcoming Media in Transition conference being held at MIT at the end of April 2007. Anyone interested in being a part of it can take a look here:
There is a call for papers, so remixers can be in the forum!