Congressman Has Lunch With Mashup Artist
from the it's-a-start dept
A few months back we were all shocked to hear Congressional Representative Mike Doyle come out and praise mixtapes and mashups. Doyle wondered aloud during a hearing if these new creations were really all that different than Paul McCartney copying Chuck Berry's bass lines. He named Greg Gillis, a popular mixtape maker, as an example of a "local guy done good." Newsweek journalist Steven Levy thought it might be a good idea to get the two together, and sat in on a lunch between the Congressman and the mixtape artist and performer. Gillis explained that he pretty much worries all the time that the recording industry will shut him down and that if he wanted to pay all the relevant RIAA fees his albums would cost $100 each (even as the PR side of those same record labels ask him to promote their artists). Gillis notes that certain types of sampling would make more sense to be considered fair use, but Doyle admits that such a change in the law isn't likely to fly: "Some members don't even want to understand it. They just get a call from the [recording] industry saying, 'Bad'." Indeed. That's why other Congressional representatives joked after Doyle's original speech about Gillis, saying that they had no clue what he was talking about. Apparently, while Doyle is interested in actually understanding the issue, the same can't be said for many of his colleagues.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
google it
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Amazing...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
WTFBBQ?!
Mike, run for President!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
A quote
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Understanding...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Understanding...
1) if some one is paying you to think one way about something you don't have to understand
2) If you want some lobbyist group to shut up about an issue then you don't need to understand
3) If no one is complaining or paying, you don't need to understand.
Sad to say, most people fallow those three rules. The only reason anyone would need to understand would be if they wanted to change things for the better.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Understanding...
3) If no one is complaining or paying, you don't need to understand
The sad part about this is:
3) If none of the lobby/interest groups, corporations, or other politicians are complaining or paying, you don't need to understand.
Yes I left the public out of that on purpose.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]