LISTSERV mailing list manager LISTSERV 16.0

Help for ARSCLIST Archives


ARSCLIST Archives

ARSCLIST Archives


[email protected]


View:

Message:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Topic:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

By Author:

[

First

|

Previous

|

Next

|

Last

]

Font:

Proportional Font

LISTSERV Archives

LISTSERV Archives

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST Home

ARSCLIST  June 2005

ARSCLIST June 2005

Subject:

The Music Wars, cont.

From:

Dick Spottswood <[log in to unmask]>

Reply-To:

Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>

Date:

Mon, 27 Jun 2005 16:27:25 -0400

Content-Type:

text/plain

Parts/Attachments:

Parts/Attachments

text/plain (121 lines)

----- Forwarded by Dick Spottswood/dick/AmericanU on 06/27/2005 04:29 PM
-----


[log in to unmask]
06/27/2005 04:20 PM

        To:     [log in to unmask]
        cc:
        Subject:        Mixtape Crackdown Sends A Mixed Message: NYT
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK


While record labels donate money to honor a man who helped promote
mixtapes, a trade group representing the labels cracks down on those who
sell them.

KELEFA SANNEH - NY Times  June 16, 2005

Late on the night of May 13, a hip-hop promoter named Justo Faison died in
a car crash in Virginia. And last week, on June 8, the East Village record
and video shop Mondo Kim's was raided by the New York Police Department.
What do these two stories have in common? Here's a hint: it's cheap,
popular and illegal.

Faison was the industry's most energetic promoter of hip-hop mixtapes, the
unlicensed compilations (almost always on CD, despite the name) of
unreleased new songs, current hits, never-to-be-released freestyles and
unofficial remixes. To keep (or get) hard-core listeners excited, rappers
are expected to maintain a mixtape presence by supplying DJ's with tracks
and also by collaborating with them to release "hosted by" mixtapes.
Thanks to Faison, the mixtape world even had its own annual ceremony: he
created and produced the yearly Mixtape Awards, a fittingly raucous
celebration; this year's attendees included Sean Combs, who won a lifetime
achievement award, and the Game.

In the days after Faison's death, rappers and DJ's paid their respects,
tribute rhymes started circulating online and a fund was started to help
pay for his burial and to aid his family. Contributions have come in from
many leading hip-hop record labels including Atlantic, TVT, Tommy Boy and
Interscope.

While artists and record labels were celebrating Faison's life and work,
the Recording Industry Association of America was finding another way to
pay tribute to the popularity of mixtapes. On May 12, the day before
Faison died, it announced a crackdown on stores that sold "pirated CD's,"
a term that refers to "mixed tapes and compilation CD's featuring one or
more artists," among other products. (The association's taxonomy of piracy
defines "counterfeit recordings" as illegal knockoffs of existing
commercial CD's, and "bootleg recordings" as illegal recordings of live
performances or broadcasts.)

In last week's raid officers confiscated hundreds of CD's, seemingly
concentrating on the shop's well-stocked section of hip-hop mixtapes. Five
employees were arrested and spent the night in jail. All five were charged
with failure to disclose origin of a recording in the second degree and
trademark counterfeiting in the third degree.

After the raid, Brad Buckles, the recording association's executive vice
president for anti-piracy, released a statement saying that the Police
Department's "steadfast commitment to the fight against piracy has stamped
out yet another significant illegal operation." It continued, "Retailers
who are making money on the backs of musicians and record companies by
selling pirated CD's should know that this is absolutely no way to conduct
a business." Reached by telephone yesterday, Mr. Buckles confirmed that an
association representative was present during the raid.

Note that phrase "musicians and record companies." In its war against
illegal music distribution, the association has often treated these two
groups as one and the same, arguing that piracy-happy fans are hurting the
artists they love. But when it comes to hip-hop mixtapes, it is in a
trickier position: the artists themselves often help produce the same
mixtapes that the association is trying to squelch, and shrewd record
labels long ago figured out that mixtapes can help drive sales of
conventional CD's.

So while record labels donate money to honor a man who helped promote
mixtapes, the trade group representing the labels cracks down on those who
sell them. And who goes to jail? Well, suffice it to say that the police
haven't arrested any of the major-label record executives who profit from
the hype generated by mixtapes.

The raid on Mondo Kim's (the East Village location of the Kim's Video
chain) was by no means the first of its kind. The recording association
has been campaigning against mixtapes for a decade; the organization's
1995 year-end report warned of "the growing popularity of illicit DJ mixes
in CD format." The Kim's 5 (has someone printed T-shirts yet?) are
probably lucky that they work in a record store frequented by
music-industry types (and, yes, the occasional newspaper reporter). When
some shop in the Bronx is raided, those hapless clerks can expect far less
press coverage.

Oddly enough, two people charged in the Kim's case are fairly well-known
musicians. One employee arrested was Chuck Bettis, a familiar figure in
the experimental-music scene and a veteran of the cult postpunk bands the
Meta-Matics and All Scars. Another was Craig Willingham, known as I-Sound,
whose discography includes "Music Is a Hungry Ghost" (City Slang), a
collaboration with the German electronic group To Rococo Rot.

The Kim's case highlights the strange position of hip-hop mixtapes, which
have been making a bumpy journey toward the mainstream. There was a time
when mixtape fans had little choice but to hit the streets in search of
fly-by-night salesmen and out-of-the-way stalls. But when an artist as
popular as 50 Cent is releasing new material directly (and sometimes
exclusively) to mixtapes, and when hip-hop crews like the Diplomats are
supplementing their underground mixtapes with official (that is, licensed
and legal) mixtapes, then the boundary between street and store gets
harder to maintain.

Nowadays, hip-hop fans across the country can buy mixtapes online,
although perhaps it is only a matter of time before those Web sites, too,
are raided. Meanwhile, some record shops are trying to find creative ways
to keep the police and the recording association at bay. After the Kim's
raid, perhaps more retailers will follow the lead of one hip-hop shop
(which shall remain nameless), where mixtapes are on display but not,
strictly speaking, on sale. To get one, you have to buy a CD holder,
priced at $7.99 but worth a small fraction of that; with every purchase,
you get a "free" mixtape.

Mixtape Crackdown Sends A Mixed Message: New York Times

Top of Message | Previous Page | Permalink

Advanced Options


Options

Log In

Log In

Get Password

Get Password


Search Archives

Search Archives


Subscribe or Unsubscribe

Subscribe or Unsubscribe


Archives

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
September 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
March 2021
February 2021
January 2021
December 2020
November 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
March 2020
February 2020
January 2020
December 2019
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
January 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
October 2016
September 2016
August 2016
July 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015
November 2015
October 2015
September 2015
August 2015
July 2015
June 2015
May 2015
April 2015
March 2015
February 2015
January 2015
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
December 2013
November 2013
October 2013
September 2013
August 2013
July 2013
June 2013
May 2013
April 2013
March 2013
February 2013
January 2013
December 2012
November 2012
October 2012
September 2012
August 2012
July 2012
June 2012
May 2012
April 2012
March 2012
February 2012
January 2012
December 2011
November 2011
October 2011
September 2011
August 2011
July 2011
June 2011
May 2011
April 2011
March 2011
February 2011
January 2011
December 2010
November 2010
October 2010
September 2010
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007
December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006
December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005
December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004
December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003

ATOM RSS1 RSS2



LISTSERV.LOC.GOV

CataList Email List Search Powered by the LISTSERV Email List Manager