Grey Tuesday Begins With Cease And Desist Letters

from the talk-about-proactive dept

Can you send out a cease & desist letter to someone who has just stated the intention of doing something, but hasn't actually done it yet? I'll let the lawyers handle that one. In the meantime, if you haven't been keeping up on the whole "Grey Album" debate, here's the quick summary. Sometime last year, the musician Jay-Z put out an album called "The Black Album" which has done quite well. A few decades back the Beatles (you might have heard of them) put out "The White Album" which is still considered a classic album. A DJ recently took the vocals from The Black Album (which had been released without instruments for the sole purpose of letting DJs mix it with other music) and put it to music from The White Album, thus producing... "The Grey Album". People say that, as odd as you might think the combination is, it's actually amazingly good. Not everyone was so impressed, however. EMI, who controls the Beatles music, started sending around cease & desist letters to anyone who was posting MP3s online and to anyone selling physical copies of the album (there were a bunch on eBay). Someone then came up with the idea of "Grey Tuesday" where a bunch of sites would all post the tracks from the album on Tuesday, February 24th. The folks at Capitol Records can use the internet as well, and learned all about this and have sent off cease & desist letters to sites that have said they'll participate, even though they hadn't done anything yet. The letter goes particularly far in its demands, saying the sites need to inform them who sent them a physical copy of the album and to tell Capitol Records about anyone who downloaded the album. The folks who organized the event have written back, saying they believe they are well within their fair use rights and will refuse to back down. They point out that if this goes to court (and they have no problem taking it to court from their end) it will just get this matter a lot more attention. If anything, it sounds like they're begging Capitol to go after them so this issue becomes bigger and can be a catalyst for real copyright reform. That seems like a pretty risky strategy, but I admire them for pushing forward with it. As many people have pointed out, the point of copyright is to encourage creativity - and this episode has shown how it's being used to stifle creativity instead. I'm sure you'll be able to find updates at GreyTuesday.org.
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  1. identicon
    Jeremiah, 24 Feb 2004 @ 2:43am

    Grey OUT

    Am I the only person who's heard Dangermouse's "Grey" album and thought it sucked? I have DJ friends giving it mad propz as if somehow the concept of black-white-grey had illuded them up to this point. Hey, Metallica had a "black" album, as did Spinal Tap. But Jay-frikkin'-Z??

    I suspect most folks are enthralled more with the idea the album is good if for no other reason than to thwub (yes, it's a word!) their collective noses at a percieved commercial abuse of copyright law. Had Dangermouse actually gone the "legal" route for securing sample clearances, and released his project without the "controversy", it probably would have gone unnoticed - relegated to the used CD bins of indy record stores everywhere and written off as a hack attempt at originality.

    Then again, maybe it's genius.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Milnesy, 24 Feb 2004 @ 6:52am

    Re: Grey OUT

    I'm listening to a couple of tracks now, and it's ok. I wouldn't call it spectacular. I think the cool part is that it's the BEATLES and JAY-Z together. Even if the Beatles were together (and alive), I doubt that they would do this together.... ever.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 24 Feb 2004 @ 8:59am

    Re: Grey OUT

    "thwub" may be a word, but "illuded" definitely is not.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    Mark, 24 Feb 2004 @ 9:14am

    Re: Grey OUT

    Nah, you have it right. It's crap. If you want to check out a good mash up, I recommend Dsico's Love will freak us or Just mix fuckin' anything. Still, anything that sticks it to RIAA people is good with me.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Joe Baderderm, 24 Feb 2004 @ 1:12pm

    Dangermouse brand

    Shouldn't there be a follow up story about a company suing the DJ for infringing on their trademark? Especially if the guy wears and eyepatch and lives in a post box. I call dibs on the name DJ Penfold...

    link to this | view in thread ]


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