Nation & World News
Labels upset after
DJ splices Jay-Z,
Beatles classics
The DJ claims more than
100,000 copies of the mix
were downloaded despite
the record label uproar
By Greg Kot
Chicago Tribune (KRT)
The most buzzed-about album of
the year isn't on the Billboard charts
and it can't be found in record
stores. But even as Danger Mouse's
"The Grey Album" has restoked the
decades-old debate about sampling,
it further demonstrates that record
companies and copyright law are be
ing left in the dust by Intemet-sawy
musical innovators and the technol
ogy that stokes them.
"The Grey Album" conflates two
revered albums: The Beatles' self-ti
tled 1968 double-album, better
known as the White Album, and Jay
Z's 2003 swan song, "The Black Al
bum." But it's more than a simple
"mash-up," in which a disc jockey
syncs up the beats of two vastly dif
ferent pop songs to create a hybrid
track for playing at dance clubs.
Danger Mouse, aka Los Angeles
DJ Brian Burton, spent countless
hours splicing musical bars and
looping beats off The Beatles' mas
terwork, then laying them under
neath an a cappella version of Jay Z's
chart-topping disc.
Danger Mouse circulated 3,000
copies of "The Grey Album" last
month, giving most of them away.
Some of the records turned up in
record stores, others were being sold
on eBay and MP3 files of the 12-track
album began circulating on peer-to
peer file-sharing sites such as Kazaa
and Soulseek. That's when EMI,
which owns the publishing rights to
the White Album, jumped in and sent
cease-and-desist letters to Danger
Mouse, Web Sites and stores demand
ing that the record be destroyed. In re
sponse, more than 150 Web sites
staged "a day of coordinated civil dis
obedience" Feb. 24 and offered the al
bum for download.
"We are certain that The Grey Al
bum' was the No. 1 album in the
country (Feb. 24)," the greytues
day.org Web site announced. "Dan
ger Mouse moved more 'units' than
Norah Jones and Kanye West... with
well over 100,000 copies down
loaded. That's more than 1 million
digital tracks."
Lawyers and the record industry
saw the "Grey Tuesday" protest as
copyright infringement run amok, a
low blow directed against one of the
central pillars of the recording in
dustry. The Web sites and Danger
Mouse, arguing that they weren't
profiting from the downloads, saw
the cease-and-desist orders as an af
front to creativity and new technolo
gy, an attempt by the multinational
corporations that dominate the mu
sic business to maintain complete
control over the creative process at
any cost.
At the heart of the current debate
is the long-running battle over sam
pling. In 1991, rapper Biz Markie
was sued by Gilbert Sullivan for us
ing an unauthorized sample of Sulli
van's 1972 hit "Alone Again (Natu
rally)" on his album "I Need a
Haircut" and a judge ruled in the
singer's favor. "1 Need a Haircut" was
pulled from stores and quickly went
out of print. Ever since, record labels
have been more diligent about clear
ing permission for using copyright
ed material, sometimes paying copy
right-holders tens of thousands of
dollars to use even a four-bar snip
pet of a recording.
Danger Mouse didn't seek EMI's
or Jay Z's permission to sample The
Beatles, asserting that his request
would have been denied anyway be
cause he didn't have the financial
means or major-label connections.
Instead, he refers to the album as an
experiment and has declined to
make money off it.
Purists contend that music can be
created only on "real" instruments,
and look askance at the mixing
desks, turntables, samplers and
computers that are the remixers'
tools. But remixers are paid hun
dreds of thousands of dollars to do
what an entire orchestra can some
times not do: turn a song into a hit
record, often by replacing all the
backing instruments with coundess
bytes of electronic data culled from
original and pre-recorded sources.
(c) 2004, Chicago Tribune.
Distributed by Knight Ridder/
Tribune Information Services.
CAMPUS
Tuesday
Human Resources Workshop entitled "Prevent
ing and Dealing with Sexual Harassment on
Campus,” Alsea and Coquille Rooms, EMU, 9
a.m.-noon. Pre-registration required.
Candidate interview drop-in session with
Matthew O’Laughlin, one of two remaining can
didates for the director of faculty development
position, Century Room E, EMU, 10:30-11 a.m.
Officers of Administration Brown Bag Lunch
with Greg Vincent, new vice provost for institu
tional equity and diversity, Umpqua Room EMU,
noon-1 p.m.
The Center for the Study of Women in Society
Teaching and Tea entitled “Into Our Own Hands:
Women's Health Activism in the U.S.," Room
330, Hendricks Hall, 4:15-5:30 p.m.
Scandinavian film series featuring "The
Prompter,” International Resource Center, EMU,
7 p.m.
UO Ensembles Concert featuring the Oregon
Jazz Ensemble, Beall Concert Hall, 8 p.m.
"Senorita Extraviada, Missing Young Women,” a
documentary of the disappearances, murders and
violence against women in Mexico presented by
Amnesty International, Willamette 100,7 p.m.
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GRADUATING THIS SPRING?
Relax, the UO Bookstore has you covered.
UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
GRADUATION FAIR
Sunday, April 4 through Wednesday, April 7
" Main ceremony information
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No tickets are needed to attend the ceremonies.
Informational brochures will be sent out March 22
and April 26 and can be found on the commencement
website.
For more information now, visit the
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