Record Lables Go After the Mixtape, Shoot Themselves in Foot

News Type: Event — Seeded on Sat Dec 15, 2007 10:56 AM EST

Article Source: The New York Times

entertainment, music, copyright, riaa, mixtapes, musicvine, dj-drama

LOS ANGELES — Early this year, DJ Drama, a mixtape producer who made his name spotlighting new rap talents on his own line of compilation CDs, found himself in a Georgia jail cell after being arrested on charges of racketeering in connection with his recordings. This week, less than a year after authorities raided his studio, and with the case still pending, he found himself in a more agreeable setting: the Billboard album chart.

Though Drama's new recording, "Gangsta Grillz: The Album," shares a name with the long-running series of underground compilations that made him a mainstay of Southern rap, it came with one big difference: It was sanctioned and released by a major label, Atlantic Records. And since the CD is chock-full of authorized appearances by rap stars ranging from Young Jeezy to OutKast to Diddy, it could be completed only after a flurry of legal paperwork.

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3.9

{"commentId":1272849,"authorDomain":"kymlee"}

kymlee

"They're desperate," he said. "They're losing money, so they had the R.I.A.A. aggressively going after the stores. They're cutting their own throat."

Seems like record companies like to cut off their noses to spite their faces. Mixtapes have been a staple in the rap and hip-hop industry since its inception. With mixtapes, there are many artists who may not have broken out or even signed deals with record labels because they would not have gotten any attention other than in their hometown underground scene.

Attacking DJs who make mixtapes is like attacking the very fabric upon which hip-hop was built. Its silly and, as the article says, desperate.

{"commentId":1272849,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"kymlee"}

6 votes

#1 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:02 AM EST

{"commentId":1273758,"authorDomain":"stolte-sawa"}

Ryan Stolte-Sawa

Attacking DJs who make mixtapes is like attacking the very fabric upon which hip-hop was built.

You said it! Most producers (and, frankly, probably most people who listen to the "hip hop" record companies care about) probably think the fabric of hip-hop history is silk or some other, more appropriate, decadent material.

What a bunch of boneheads. I'm bored with this @!$%#.

{"commentId":1273758,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"stolte-sawa"}

3 votes

#1.1 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 5:41 PM EST

{"commentId":1272920,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

As much as the labels like to try, they have to learn that you can neither truly exterminate the underground nor can you ever effectively replicate it.

{"commentId":1272920,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

4 votes

#2 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:30 AM EST

{"commentId":1273274,"authorDomain":"team"}

Jeff W

Kymlee I completely agree. Mixtapes are essential to the hip hop community. I hope the RIAA is shot down soon.

{"commentId":1273274,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"team"}

3 votes

#3 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 1:32 PM EST

{"commentId":1273868,"authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

Brandon May

Clearly I don't understand how this works. I would think that if all the participating artists on a mixtape are unsigned, and all the material is original, then how does the RIAA have any say over how it's distributed, packaged and sold? If a mixtape uses a signed artist, why can't the signed artist use his/her connections to get the mixtape distributed through the label they are signed to?

{"commentId":1273868,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

2 votes

#4 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:32 PM EST

{"commentId":1273907,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

why can't the signed artist use his/her connections to get the mixtape distributed through the label they are signed to?

Well I guess that's why the RIAA is making a stink. The DJs aren't consulting nor paying anyone royalties. It's trickier than the artist taking the whole tape to their label though since each tape likely has artists from different labels, and so the labels will have to divvy up the royalties, and I think if the original artist samples someone else that first party also gets royalties from the sales.

{"commentId":1273907,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

2 votes

#4.1 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 6:45 PM EST

{"commentId":1278838,"authorDomain":"kymlee"}

kymlee

Brandon, Eric is right, the logistics of getting the approval of every record label associated with a song on a mixtape would be ridiculous. The truth is it wouldn't really be worth it monetarily for labels to even bother and the artists don't usually mind because it's free promotion. No not all of the artists are unsigned those who are benefit from the distribution of mixtapes just as much as those who aren't; maybe more.

I think the problem here is that the RIAA is grasping at straws and going after all of the wrong people instead of looking at why their business model is not working as well as it used to. They seem to refuse to adapt and it is hurting them more than they are willing to admit.

{"commentId":1278838,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"kymlee"}

2 votes

#4.2 - Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:29 PM EST

{"commentId":1282118,"authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

Brandon May

I guess that makes sense. Well, it doesn't make sense that they would do it that way, but your explanation of how they do it makes sense.
My question is if all these rappers have aliases, what's to stop 50 Cent from rapping on a mix tape as Johnny Kickass, and pretending it's not him so his homeboy doesn't get a call from the RIAA? I mean, how many names did Old Dirty Bastard go through before he passed untimely?

{"commentId":1282118,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

2 votes

#4.3 - Tue Dec 18, 2007 11:58 AM EST

{"commentId":1282166,"authorDomain":"kymlee"}

kymlee

Brandon, LMAO! I don't know about the aliases...It has been my experience that rappers do not hide their aliases. They say them over and over in one song or another to make sure no one makes the mistake of forgetting the name. ;-)

{"commentId":1282166,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"kymlee"}

2 votes

#4.4 - Tue Dec 18, 2007 12:13 PM EST

{"commentId":1283226,"authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

Brandon May

Good point about the aliases. If it weren't for 50 Cent's "In Da Club", I would forget it was my birthday.

{"commentId":1283226,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"brandonmay"}

2 votes

#4.5 - Tue Dec 18, 2007 4:57 PM EST

{"commentId":1274559,"authorDomain":"isaacs"}

Scott Isaacs

If a label is going to be a power in the music business, most specifically the hip hop industry, they have to learn how to cooperate with and build on the underground music scene. Otherwise the label will be hopelessly out of touch with the fans it is trying to sell to.

{"commentId":1274559,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"isaacs"}

3 votes

#5 - Sat Dec 15, 2007 11:58 PM EST

{"commentId":1274893,"authorDomain":"brienamb"}

worldcurmudgeon

It time for this gang infected music genre to come to its end. Already you have this gangster lifestyle going mainstream. At Penny's you can buy gangster attire, no longer leaning on sports team uniforms to set themselves apart, now they have their own clothing lines. This music is, has, and always will be crap. Any parent catching their child listening to it, should toss the kids IPOD. The music is dying off cause 'members' of this line of music minded thugs keep knocking each other off.

{"commentId":1274893,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"brienamb"}

#6 - Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:21 AM EST

{"commentId":1274900,"authorDomain":"isaacs"}

Scott Isaacs

Gosh, could you tell us how you really feel in a less objective, more one sided way? That was really too diluted for my tastes. ;-)

P.S. - I bet it really pisses you off to know that Shawn Carter went from selling drugs in the Marcy projects to running his own record label and being an item with one of People's 50 Most Beautiful. LOL

{"commentId":1274900,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"isaacs"}

3 votes

#6.1 - Sun Dec 16, 2007 5:38 AM EST

{"commentId":1295128,"authorDomain":"DrKnow"}

Dr Know

Technically, you may not give any copy, partial or complete, of any copyrighted material to anyone else without permission. When you buy any music you are getting the right for personal use only.

It is analogous to the writers wanting royalties whenever their work is replicated on any medium.

Mixtapes used to be a way for artists to enter the paid world. Making mixtapes of distributed artists is depriving them of royalties. It is theft of product.

{"commentId":1295128,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"DrKnow"}

3 votes

#7 - Sat Dec 22, 2007 11:45 AM EST

{"commentId":1295233,"authorDomain":"kymlee"}

kymlee

Mixtapes used to be a way for artists to enter the paid world. Making mixtapes of distributed artists is depriving them of royalties. It is theft of product.

I hear you Dr Know and I suppose you are technically right. The artists are not complaining, the record labels are because they are desperate and their business model is not working the way it used to. The analogy you made doesn't really work because the artists are not the ones trying to stop the creation and distribution of the mixtapes - the labels are. The artists actually benefit from the promotion and by extension, so do the record labels to which the artists are signed.

So the problem (IMO) is not really the mixtape with songs from signed artists, it is that the record labels do not understand how it benefits them, nor do they understand the institution of hip-hop as it relates to the music business.

Attacking DJs who make mixtapes is like attacking the very fabric upon which hip-hop was built.

{"commentId":1295233,"threadId":"189721","contentId":"1165818","authorDomain":"kymlee"}

2 votes

#7.1 - Sat Dec 22, 2007 12:31 PM EST

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KYMLEE

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Record Lables Go After the Mixtape, Shoot Themselves in Foot

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