Agent Proto
03-12-2004, 10:40 PM
If you haven't heard, someone by the name of DJ Danger Mouse have made a remix CD that took the capella lyrics from Jay-Z's Black Album, and sampled music from The Beatle's White Album to make what's an unique turn at music.
However, EMI, the company claiming rights to The Beatles are saying that the DJ infringed copyrights of The Beatles to make this CD. I think that's quite wrong myself, seeing that this album is not meant to harm anything. It's taking music from two different eras and mixed them to make something which sounds unique. Anyway, here's a sample of what's being said about the album regarding the legal problems.
Late last year, a DJ named Danger Mouse took The Black Album by Jay-Z, mixed it with samples taken from the Beatles' White Album, and produced The Grey Album. He sent the album to a few folks and now -- blame the Internet -- everyone has a copy.
EMI, one of the big five record companies, parent of Capitol Records, and owner/controller of the Beatles musical catalog, sent Danger Mouse a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that he had infringed on their copyright of the Beatles tunes in question. (Jay-Z, on the other hand, released an a capella version of The Black Album so that precisely this type of sampling/remixing would occur.) Andy Baio and several other people posted MP3 copies of The Grey Album on their Web sites and were also sent letters by representatives of EMI ordering them to remove the songs from their sites.
Anyway, I have the album uploaded to my site, but I don't want to get too many people downloading from me, and I'm planning to take it down after awhile. So if you want to check it out, PM me regarding the album (Grey Album), and I'll share it with you. :)
However, EMI, the company claiming rights to The Beatles are saying that the DJ infringed copyrights of The Beatles to make this CD. I think that's quite wrong myself, seeing that this album is not meant to harm anything. It's taking music from two different eras and mixed them to make something which sounds unique. Anyway, here's a sample of what's being said about the album regarding the legal problems.
Late last year, a DJ named Danger Mouse took The Black Album by Jay-Z, mixed it with samples taken from the Beatles' White Album, and produced The Grey Album. He sent the album to a few folks and now -- blame the Internet -- everyone has a copy.
EMI, one of the big five record companies, parent of Capitol Records, and owner/controller of the Beatles musical catalog, sent Danger Mouse a cease-and-desist letter, claiming that he had infringed on their copyright of the Beatles tunes in question. (Jay-Z, on the other hand, released an a capella version of The Black Album so that precisely this type of sampling/remixing would occur.) Andy Baio and several other people posted MP3 copies of The Grey Album on their Web sites and were also sent letters by representatives of EMI ordering them to remove the songs from their sites.
Anyway, I have the album uploaded to my site, but I don't want to get too many people downloading from me, and I'm planning to take it down after awhile. So if you want to check it out, PM me regarding the album (Grey Album), and I'll share it with you. :)