Comments on: RUPTURE SAMPLERS & DJ DRAMA DRAMA

By: bent

bent — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 00:42:18 +0000

another perspective on it…

http://everyshuteyeaintsleep.blogspot.com/2007/01/thirty-strong-and-gun-to-his-headpay.html

By: jace

jace — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 06:59:03 +0000

thanks for the clarification/ conflation-correction Elizabeth! I certainly didn’t mean to belittle the folks who are fighting for legal sanity regarding copyright & free culture — i love you all dearly, especially being a mixtape DJ who has, ahem, been approached by lawyers..

i was just trying to use the Drama drama momentum to mention related issues usually out of mainstream media dialog.

The wave of interest & activism around DJ Drama seems nice yet fleeting, and i began thinking how it is harder for similarly-themed issues like generic AIDS drugs (”bootlegs”) & big pharma (”the majors”) to tip into sudden widespread internet scrutiny/debate because they lack a flashy press moment — so my small contrib to the Drama discussion was to talk about that — related but unequal issues that many free-the-dj folks might also resonate with.

Aside: the other day i realized that i should probably become an expert passport forger to best realize my vision/hope of a globalized world where people & ideas can cross national borders as easily as capital and corporations do…..

By: elizabeth

elizabeth — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:34:46 +0000

jace, while i completely sympathize and agree with your take on the AIDS drugs/big pharma issues, let’s also remember that patents and copyright (so-called “intellectual property”) are not in fact the same thing.

maybe i’m just trying to justify what i’m doing with my life, but i’ve had this dilemma quite a bit: why am i working on issues of culture and freedom of ideas when people are out there dying? my solution: they’re not mutually exclusive, and i can try to do both (and have been working on human rights issues as well.) i think, though, that if people completely gave up on this fight, it would be a sad day indeed, because access to information and knowledge can have extremely far-reaching implications (i.e. access to critical scientific research that can save peoples’ lives, or playing a role in putting an end to political oppression.)

so maybe i’m just trying to rationalize what it is i’ve devoted my life to lately, but issues like overhauling the legal system, saving lives, and promoting free culture can in fact be complimentary.

(also: FTDJs is not just about examining the legal situation–it’s also poised to look at the greater societal, cultural, and economic issues surrounding mixtapes, hip hop, and the structure of the music industry.)

By: FREE the DJs » Blog Archive » Now That’s What I’m Screamin

FREE the DJs » Blog Archive » Now That’s What I’m Screamin — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 05:13:25 +0000

[...] “Mainstream analysis” continues: Today’s NYT features another well-informed, somewhat sympathetic piece on the Drama drama. This one was written by Jeff Leeds, who’s shown himself to be a pretty sharp industry analyst of late. Plenty of juicy quotes in there, though some could be juicier. For example, rather than naming names, we’re left with Leeds telling us – The police said lawyers representing an array of artists sent cease-and-desist demands protesting the unauthorized use of their music, though they declined to identify the artists. [...]

By: w&w

w&w — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 02:28:01 +0000

nice french kiss !

By: quieto

quieto — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 22:14:34 +0000

” * if we want to talk about American legal system injustice, inept RIAA mixtape squads are the least of our worries… and if we want to condemn archaic ideas about intellectual property/copyright, lets hit pharmaceutical patents and generic AIDS drugs etc first… ”

seriously.

you’re right– unfortunately, coverage of intellectual property/copyright issues is not only rare in the mainstream media, it’s trivialized by being largely presented by cases of outright plagiarism, which makes the argument harder to make on scream shows. this drama thing and its economic ramifications (and intellectual property in the arts in general vis-a-vis pharmaceutical patents) is about as decent a discussion as you’re going to see about this in the nytimes.

that the discussion is either about economics or a minor change in the legal system is, of course, even more depressing.