Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 12:47 am Posts: 46000 Location: Reasonville
anyone hear about this latest news story about the riaa busting down on hip-hop/rap mix tapes? it's being covered in mtv. i just saw some special on it and it's a pretty serious issue.
many young artists throw random tracks on these because it's good coverage for them. record labels look past it because they don't care -- they use the mix tapes themselves to see what artists they want to sign on top of being happy their artists may get more popular and can make them more money.
law enforcement is cracking down, though, and this covers the riaa's impact.
EDIT: go to http://www.mtvnews.com and click on the video labeled: INSIDE THE MIXTAPE BUST
_________________ No matter how dark the storm gets overhead They say someone's watching from the calm at the edge What about us when we're down here in it? We gotta watch our backs
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:30 pm Posts: 7110 Location: the Zoo.
"Thanks for making us a bunch of money, now we're going to take yours."
Mixtapes are necessary in hip-hop. They're not going to go away, and they help record labels get their artists out there. This is honestly pretty pathetic.
Joined: Mon Mar 13, 2006 1:02 am Posts: 2560 Location: Dallas/Atlanta/Savannah
I dont really understand how they can really involve law enforcement, since the RIAA isnt really a government entity, just a group of music companies and lobbyist. I mean they can sue till they turn blue in the face. I just dont see how its legal.
_________________ "is that a fucking pearl jam shirt?" Courtney Love
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:30 pm Posts: 7110 Location: the Zoo.
Junco Partner wrote:
I dont really understand how they can really involve law enforcement, since the RIAA isnt really a government entity, just a group of music companies and lobbyist. I mean they can sue till they turn blue in the face. I just dont see how its legal.
Essentially, piracy and the use of copyrighted materials is illegal in most any context.
I'm not familiar with the mixtape culture of hiphop, so anyone care to explain it to me?
Basically, it's a bunch of songs recorded by a rapper with the help of at least one dj. The mixtape is used to get the artists name out there, or (for the established artist) to promote an upcoming album. Generally, the mixing, engineering and production isn't on the same caliber as a proper studio release.
The RIAA's beef is that they are distributing copyrighted and pirated material. The djs make copies of the recordings and sell them, and one of the other issues is the fact that they are using samples without permission. Mixtapes are generally offered independently, so for a long time no one really had a problem with them, and record companies often valued mixtapes as legitimate marketing tools. But in more recent years, the mixtapes have become available (as the video you couldn't watch indicated) on sites like Amazon and itunes. If you ask me, that's a pretty bad move on the part of the people involved with creating the mixtape.
Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 4:56 pm Posts: 19957 Location: Jenny Lewis' funbags
Thanks mowbs. Between your post and this wiki entry, i've been able to make some sense of it:
Quote:
The mixtape format is becoming increasingly popular as a way of generating hype for hip hop artists. Often each track on a promotional hip hop mixtape will feature the same artist, thus making it more difficult to differentiate from the definition of a standard album. However, these mixtapes will usually have much lower production values than a studio album, and contain numerous collaborations, remixes, freestyles and voice-overs, often not arranged in a specific fashion.
Hip hop mixtapes are usually sold on the street or through independent record dealers or mail order, mainly relying on word of mouth to increase the artist's street credibility. An unsigned artist might release several mixtapes to generate buzz, leading to interest from record labels, while a signed artist may release a mixtape to promote a future studio album.
In the "Mixtape, Inc." documentary, filmmakers attempt to show the importance of an otherwise illegal practice (specifically Hip Hop mixtapes) and how it relates to the growing popularity of this music genre. Hip Hop Mixtapes have been instrumental in supplementing the marketing and promotions endeavors of record labels. Ironically, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), a political lobby group funded by the major record corporations, classifies these Mixtapes as bootleg or pirated music CDs.
So that raises a couple of questions. Like how much illegal sampling are we talking here? Is it just bits and pieces or whole songs? Is the rapper singing over someone elses music or is it just snippets of songs thrown in?
There seems to be a lot of grey area here. Yeah, it's illegal but it also seems to be in the RIAA's best interest to turn a blind eye to the practice. I would imagine that the amount of money lost on mixtapes is far less than that gained on the emergence of a popular new artist. At first glance it kinda sounds like they are shooting themselves in the foot, but then again the RIAA hasn't really proved itself to be the most progressive or forward thinking organization so this doesn't really surprise me. If this turns out anything the mp3 fiasco they will probably just end up driving it further underground and line someone elses pockets.
I dont really understand how they can really involve law enforcement, since the RIAA isnt really a government entity, just a group of music companies and lobbyist. I mean they can sue till they turn blue in the face. I just dont see how its legal.
Essentially, piracy and the use of copyrighted materials is illegal in most any context.
OK, but what law grants them the right to monitor rule breakers? People get creeped out by the NSA tracking them online, but how is that much different from the RIAA tracking you IP addy and data transfers? Do I have the right to sue to see the contents of my neighbors kitchen because I think he stole my newspaper?
What about their 'honey-pot' file servers? How is that not entrapment?
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:30 pm Posts: 7110 Location: the Zoo.
broken iris wrote:
inadvertent imitation wrote:
Junco Partner wrote:
I dont really understand how they can really involve law enforcement, since the RIAA isnt really a government entity, just a group of music companies and lobbyist. I mean they can sue till they turn blue in the face. I just dont see how its legal.
Essentially, piracy and the use of copyrighted materials is illegal in most any context.
OK, but what law grants them the right to monitor rule breakers? People get creeped out by the NSA tracking them online, but how is that much different from the RIAA tracking you IP addy and data transfers? Do I have the right to sue to see the contents of my neighbors kitchen because I think he stole my newspaper?
What about their 'honey-pot' file servers? How is that not entrapment?
I won't ever defend the RIAA, and I don't agree with their approach to this, but it doesn't seem that complicated:
People can buy mixtapes on the street. These mixtapes unabashedly contain copyright infringement. The RIAA finds out who is making and distributing offending mixtapes and the law gets involved.
It's not like some covert operation to find this shit out; no one has ever tried to hide the copyright infringement in the past. The reason that this is bullshit is because the RIAA has repeatedly turned a blind eye toward, and even encouraged the exposure of their artists via mixtapes, and now they're fucking over the people that broke their artists.
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