Death Of ACTA

from the sing-along dept

Wed, Oct 20th 2010 2:23am — Mike Masnick

As promised in our case study on Dan Bull, he's now released his latest song, entitled Death of ACTA. Better yet, the video was filmed on an actual pirate ship:

And, of course, you can download and share the MP3 freely, and if you want his album you can download that too (or pay him for it, if you'd like). The full lyrics are reposted after the jump as well...LYRICS:

Only rapper to be called a thief without stealing
Download an MP3 for free, these people hit the ceiling
I'm just a citizen that's teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression
How can ideas be possessions when they're freely replicable?
Hence unapplicable property laws are reprehensible
Didn't Jefferson express his opinion on the matter
when he said inventions shouldn't be given a patent
What happened to that thinking, we're stuck in a pattern
where the people with everything are keeping everything from us who haven't
We want it back, look, fed up of adverts, left and right
begging me to buy til there's nothing left of mine
to spend, never mind, who's next in line to testify
that we need laws like these to protect our rights?
Medicine has never been something I'd ever deprive
especially when a life depends on it to survive
Yeah, it takes an incredible effort to develop them right
but putting wealth over health, I said it's never been right

I'm just a citizen that's teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression, and I reckon
if old blues themes hadn't been used by Led Zeppelin
we wouldn't ever have any heavy metal then
the history of music would have never even happened
and amusingly there wouldn't even be a Metallica
to tell us that we should hang on the gallows of law
so we wouldn't even need to have a Gallo Report
Oh and by the way the fricking Gallo's support
is made of signatures which have been apparently forged
This shit is sinister, and cannot be allowed to enforce
so tell your ministers and MEPs of how it's been brought about
Although you'll probably get a shallow retort
because the lobbyists have got a grip around all their balls
If I was boss, I'd tell them get the Hell out the door
because I've had enough of corrupt crooks ramming through laws

I'm just a citizen that's teaching you a lesson
for restricting my freedom of expression
Yes, and deep packet inspection? squeeze that up your rectum
If your postman did that to you you'd be having him sectioned
arrested for meddling in your private affairs
But it's only online, right? so why should we care?
Because digital rights should be applicable right
here in real life, and we're not criminals, right?
So this is just why we'll never give up the fight
to be considered innocent until we kick up and die
Giving internet providers responsibility
for the whims of their subscribers infringes privacy
Before the internet, media was a rarity
but how do you expect it to keep its value without scarcity
And that's what scares me, seeing their cons and schemes
to stop their creaking business model being obsolete
What a robbery they pull off so obviously
Don't give a fuck who it affects as long as it's not me
Well I'll keep making copies, see if they can stop me
They'll have to confiscate my PC and take it off me
See there's no problem with taking my property
for creating some lines of binary, blatant hypocrisy
Afraid to face the controversy relating to what we need
Making a profit off it or breaking monopolies

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Filed Under: acta, dan bull, gallo report, music

25 Comments

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ajamsandwich (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 2:49am

Well ...
Excellent song, and that is now the first album i've bought in about 10 years. Don't download either as todays music is plain cack.

Well done Dan Bull.
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Crosbie Fitch (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 2:58am

How long must we sing this song?
Another song Dan Bull might consider there's a necessity for, is a "Free Emmanuel Nimley!" song - he's currently doing 6 months in prison for pointing his iPhone at a cinema screen.

It's one thing to have your PC confiscated, or your cultural liberty constrained, but it's far more serious to lose your liberty entirely. Ask Nelson Mandela.
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Matthew, 20 Oct 2010 @ 3:26am

The title of this post is misleading. I was hoping...
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 3:44am

One question
Who is Dan Bull?
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Mike Masnick (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 3:50am

Re: One question
Who is Dan Bull?

http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20101019/01004711475/dear-dan-bull-a-case -study-in-musical-innovation.shtml
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 5:00am

Death Of ACTA
Mislading article title... :-(

Anyway... Good Job, Dan. Keep It up.
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R. Miles (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 5:15am

A silver lining.
I'm glad TD posted the lyrics as I was pretty sure the word "ACTA" never appeared in the "rap".

It was difficult listening to the phonetics, but the message was pretty good. I loved the Jefferson part, though I'm pretty confident it was Franklin, not Jefferson, who wanted to abstain from allowing copyright into the Constitution.

Limited time my ass. Oh, sorry. Tangent.

Good video, though I have to say the "Mixing is killing music" still remains the best.

Sadly, these attempts at educating people still won't change a thing. Consumers rushing out to see the latest feature from Disney are indirectly funneling cash into the broken government responsible for introducing these idiotic laws.

No way in hell do people give up their little mermaids, teen idols, $10 mouse stickers, or toys coming to "life" even if it costs them their Constitutional rights.
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Bas Grasmayer (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 5:19am

Yeah, he could turn the volume of the horns down a bit, so that we can hear his vocals better. This is what made his previous tunes so great; they were easy to understand and it's the content matter that matters.
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 5:55am

RHAAAA!!! This title is blatant false advertizing! Here I was, hoping for a better world. Alas... :(

Mike, you won't get away with this. I'm off to the consumerist!
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 6:32am

So does this mean that ACTA is no more?
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dearmarcus, 20 Oct 2010 @ 7:18am

Is using Deathof Autotune fair use?
He's rhyming over Jay Z's Death of Autotune, is this fair use?

Jay Z's underlying song sample is "In the Space", can Dan legally sell this song?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcUt5UcZoeg
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 7:24am

While I don't like the song
It is only the song that I don't like. I like the message. Quite a bit. It is just not my style of music is all. I highly support Dan Bull and his efforts at helping bring more light to these issues. Go Dan!
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Hephaestus (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 7:37am

Re:
"The title of this post is misleading. I was hoping..."

I thought the same thing at Torrent Freak.
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chris (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 8:23am

Re: Well ...
older tracks by others with similar sentiments:

futuristic sex robots:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnLB8wysMbY

metamystiks inc. with YT cracker:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lRB53g7NO0
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mike allen (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:09am

Re: Is using Deathof Autotune fair use?
who cares I dont GO DAN
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Anonymous Coward, 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:46am

Why people use a cassette tape for a logo?

Does any boy or girl today know what that is?

Not a complaint just wondering if the youth today know what a cassette tape is.
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DandonTRJ (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 2:14pm

My heart skipped a beat at the subject line.
I'm writing a law review comment on the ACTA, and the treaty finally dying would have been perfect for my thesis. Damn. Fingers still crossed!
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dearmarcus (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 2:36pm

Re: Re: Is using Deathof Autotune fair use?
I would hate for the RIAA to come after Mike for linking to pirated music. ;)
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drew (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 3:28pm

It's not a pirate ship!
It's a replica of the Golden Hinde!
Otherwise good. Though i too was overly optimistic at the title...
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 20 Oct 2010 @ 4:26pm

“Cassis Tutissima Virtus”
I thought that was a picture of Sir Francis Drake on the wall of the captain’s cabin. :)
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MadderMak (profile), 20 Oct 2010 @ 8:15pm

Re: It's not a pirate ship!
Replica?
Surely you meant a copy!
Now we just need to find out if the original Captain, Owner, Crew, any passangers and the non-existant parrot (or their descendants) authorised this heinous use!

replica - humph! That sounds far to legal!
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Griffon, 20 Oct 2010 @ 8:28pm

I don't dig rap much, but I did dig that.
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Rekrul, 20 Oct 2010 @ 11:15pm

I made it through 29 seconds before I had to either stop the video or drive icepicks in my ears.

The message of the "song" aside, I don't know how anyone can actually enjoying listening to rap. It grates on my nerves and makes me want to hit something/someone.
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mike allen (profile), 22 Oct 2010 @ 1:51am

Re: Re: Re: Is using Deathof Autotune fair use?
how is it pirated??????
its perfectly legal
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Androgynous Cowherd, 24 Oct 2010 @ 12:19am

You know it's getting serious when...
you come across a rap song whose lyrics mention monopolies, business models, and "deep packet inspection". And Jefferson!
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