Danger Mouse Releases Blank CD-R To Spite EMI 296
An anonymous reader writes "DJ Danger Mouse famously fought with EMI over his Beatles/Jay-Z mashup, 'The Grey Album,' and now seems to be battling with the label again. Rather than release his latest album and face legal issues with EMI, Techdirt is reporting that Danger Mouse will be selling a blank CD-R along with lots of artwork, and buyers will be responsible for finding the music themselves (yes, it's findable on the internet) and burning the CD."
Re:+1 (Score:1, Interesting)
Sounds like they're sticking it to their fans.
They're selling a blank CD for a huge markup, after all.
I hope this catches on, big time (Score:5, Interesting)
Frankly, I think that the idea is rather ingenious. I already sense a horde of lawyers sniffing the judicial currents, wondering if this could be prosecuted as encouraging copyright infringement. That should be an interesting case.
Offhand, I'd guess it hinges on whatever public statements have been made by Danger Mouse on this topic.
Another legal issue I'd be interested to come to court would be if the mashup as provided on the net didn't actually include any material under copyright, i.e., it was just a bunch of editing instructions which could be used by a computer program to which the user provides The White Album as input. It might be hard to prove that that is still clearly a derivative work of The White Album if the program would produce output (even gibberish output) given other music as inputs.
Will stores be allowed to sell it? (Score:4, Interesting)
here's the plan (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I hope this catches on, big time (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, I would make a double-sided CD/DVD. The real pressed long-lasting DVD side is a LiveDVD that boots an OS, downloads the tracks via torrent, and mixes them with a script, in the DJ's style, with a bit of individuality for every buyer. Then it burns the tracks on the CD side. (After asking you to turn it around.)
Meanwhile, the minimalistic, but cool looking OS shows a video of the guy mixing the stuff in his studio, with completion percentage. And while burning, it plays the tracks, with a video of him DJing. The images would fit the sound. And the downloads would be fast and lossless. (So you do not have to run that thing forever, but have a nice show meanwhile.)
Now THAT would be an ingenious concept. :)
I'd been wondering when this would happen (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I know its for a legit reason... (Score:3, Interesting)
Or, in other words, I would not pursue you for copyright infringement in the event I ever actually get a copyright for the works you find, that may or may not be created by me.
I'm not that familiar with the US legal system, but can't anyone sue for copyright infringement?
Re:I know its for a legit reason... (Score:5, Interesting)
I'm listening to it now.
I'll buy this CD, and I hope others do as well. It sends a good message to the public that the **aa-types are wrong when they content people won't pay for music if you give it to them on their terms. Same with In Rainbows. I'm also really interested in the David Lynch artwork.
The irony is I rip CDs to my media server as soon as I buy them and put them away for safe keeping, so burning the album to a blank will be a purely symbolic - and ass-backwards - gesture on my part.
He should have just gone in for the kill (Score:3, Interesting)
If he really wanted to make a political statement, he would have licensed the music or sued to get it licensed, and then released the CD with a statement revealing how much of the cost was license fees to the Beatles and Jay-Z.
What we see instead is a protest statement, which smacks of impotence. Don't abandon your legal system to dickheads pretending to be lawyers; use the system and gain what you want legitimately, instead of trying to sidestep it like a teenager.