RIAA takes-down DJ Drama... SWAT style

Drave · 01-18-2007, 01:28 PM

"On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé. The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/ar...ic/18dram.html

I guess you can't mix tapes anymore...

Thunderbane · 01-18-2007, 02:44 PM

i heard about this, really, really, really crappy news.

I listen to Dedication 2 every week (more on weekends). I hope for the best.

Vorph · 01-18-2007, 02:55 PM

ROFL... RICO laws in a copyright violation case. Nah, the RIAA isn't getting out of hand or anything.

kegkilla · 01-20-2007, 10:52 AM

fucking wack

Akileese · 01-20-2007, 04:23 PM

Living proof that the RIAA does not give two fucking shits about "protecting the interest of their artists". They just want to fucking attack anyone who benefits without paying them directly. This is a battle that will end with the RIAA losing and badly.

I could conceivably see artists begin to boycott their own labels as a result of this (atleast in hip hop). I don't listen to hip hop personally, but I know people who do and they were absolutely outraged by this. As the article said, this isn't like some scrub shithead mixing shit. This guy was apparently very popular by artists in the hip hop industry. Now the RIAA feels it's going to destroy all that hip hop has left. Brilliant.

Arbitrary · 01-22-2007, 08:51 AM

The labels are going to lose because a whole new generation of musicians is going to come along that doesn't need labels to do shit. Between the internet and the media/music technologies available to the private citizen the only reason to sign to a label will be to try and be a celebrity, and only then for genres of music that even can have celebrities.

Ronne · 01-24-2007, 10:28 AM

Rofl, the RIAA arrests artists now? Sounds like a fucking protection racket to me.

Araysar · 02-06-2007, 10:41 PM

Why should DJ Drama be able to use 10-14 tracks of other artists in his mix and be able to sell it without paying royalties to the producers?

How is that different than buying a recent album that just came out, burning a bunch of CD-R copies and then hawking it on the street corner for 5$ each?

Making and distributing mixes is perfectly legal, as long as you are not selling them for personal profit.

Candiarie · 02-07-2007, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Araysar

Making and distributing mixes is perfectly legal, as long as you are not selling them for personal profit.

As far as I understand it, this is completely untrue.

Araysar · 02-07-2007, 01:49 PM

I went and found a different version of the article since I didnt want to register for NYT. Apparently every artist represented on Drama's mix has given their consent to using the tracks, RIAA's problem seems to be that they circumvented the label and gave their own direct permission.

I shouldn't have said "legal" in my comment about mixes. It's actually still a gray area in terms of indirect commercial gain. From what i remember, RIAA's stance is that if you hand out a free mix you are still receiving an indirect commercial gain because your services as a DJ are requested based on your mix. However, playing the same tracks live at a club is ok, according to RIAA as long as they were legitimately obtained (beatport.com, record store, etc.)

The problem for the RIAA is that the DJ fee for playing those tracks implies commercial gain as well so they are trying to circumvent that. Basically, they want to be able to have their music played at clubs for exposure, but they want to have a loophole to prevent free mixes being distributed - so that listeners are forced to buy their own copies. As far as I know, they have never pursued anyone for that.

Having said that, I have never heard of an instance where a DJ was given a CAD order or sued for distributing free mixes.

01-18-2007, 01:28 PM	#1 (permalink)
Drave Sly. Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Florida Posts: 598 +4 Internets	RIAA takes-down DJ Drama... SWAT style "On Tuesday night he was arrested with Don Cannon, a protégé. The police, working with the Recording Industry Association of America, raided his office, at 147 Walker Street in Atlanta. The association makes no distinction between counterfeit CDs and unlicensed compilations like those that DJ Drama is known for. So the police confiscated 81,000 discs, four vehicles, recording gear..." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/ar...ic/18dram.html I guess you can't mix tapes anymore... Last edited by Drave : 01-18-2007 at 01:46 PM.

01-18-2007, 02:44 PM	#2 (permalink)
Thunderbane amirite? Join Date: May 2003 Posts: 668 +1 Internets	i heard about this, really, really, really crappy news. I listen to Dedication 2 every week (more on weekends). I hope for the best. __________________ Gay Name Gay Guild Gay Server

01-18-2007, 02:55 PM	#3 (permalink)
Vorph Never Go Full Retard Join Date: May 2002 Location: Hell Posts: 5,685	ROFL... RICO laws in a copyright violation case. Nah, the RIAA isn't getting out of hand or anything. __________________

01-24-2007, 10:28 AM	#7 (permalink)
Ronne Hurrah for happenstance. Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Harvard IL Posts: 4,003 +3 Internets	Rofl, the RIAA arrests artists now? Sounds like a fucking protection racket to me. __________________

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01-20-2007, 10:52 AM	#4 (permalink)
kegkilla Sultan of Swingin on niggaz Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: killadelphia Posts: 1,756 -186 Internets	fucking wack

02-06-2007, 10:41 PM	#8 (permalink)
Araysar Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 255 -5 Internets	Why should DJ Drama be able to use 10-14 tracks of other artists in his mix and be able to sell it without paying royalties to the producers? How is that different than buying a recent album that just came out, burning a bunch of CD-R copies and then hawking it on the street corner for 5$ each? Making and distributing mixes is perfectly legal, as long as you are not selling them for personal profit.

02-07-2007, 01:49 PM	#10 (permalink)
Araysar Registered User Join Date: Feb 2002 Posts: 255 -5 Internets	I went and found a different version of the article since I didnt want to register for NYT. Apparently every artist represented on Drama's mix has given their consent to using the tracks, RIAA's problem seems to be that they circumvented the label and gave their own direct permission. I shouldn't have said "legal" in my comment about mixes. It's actually still a gray area in terms of indirect commercial gain. From what i remember, RIAA's stance is that if you hand out a free mix you are still receiving an indirect commercial gain because your services as a DJ are requested based on your mix. However, playing the same tracks live at a club is ok, according to RIAA as long as they were legitimately obtained (beatport.com, record store, etc.) The problem for the RIAA is that the DJ fee for playing those tracks implies commercial gain as well so they are trying to circumvent that. Basically, they want to be able to have their music played at clubs for exposure, but they want to have a loophole to prevent free mixes being distributed - so that listeners are forced to buy their own copies. As far as I know, they have never pursued anyone for that. Having said that, I have never heard of an instance where a DJ was given a CAD order or sued for distributing free mixes.