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[Carrie McLaren <carrie AT stayfreemagazine.org>]

EMI OUTLAWS 'GREY ALBUM' - DOWNLOAD IT NOW AT STAY FREE!'s ILLEGAL-ART.ORG!


DOWNHILL BATTLE (www.downhillbattle.org) -- DJ Danger Mouse's recent 
Grey Album, which remixes Jay-Z's The Black Album and the Beatles 
White Album, has been hailed as a innovative hip-hop triumph. Despite 
that and the fact that only 3,000 copies of the album are in 
circulation, EMI sent cease and desist letters yesterday to Danger 
Mouse and the handful of stores that were selling the album, 
demanding that the album be destroyed.

"EMI isn't looking for compensation, they're trying to ban a work of 
art," said Downhill Battle's Rebecca Laurie.

"Special interests, including the major labels, have turned copyright 
law into a weapon," said Downhill Battle co-founder Holmes Wilson. 
"If Danger Mouse had requested permission and offered to pay 
royalties, EMI still would have said no and the public would never 
have been able to enjoy this critically acclaimed work. Artists are 
being forced to break the law to innovate."

The Grey Album has been widely shared on file sharing networks such 
as Kazaa and Soulseek, and has garnered critical acclaim in Rolling 
Stone (which called it "the ultimate remix record" and "an ingenious 
hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time"), the Boston 
Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the 
year), and other major news outlets.

DOWNLOAD THE ALBUM
http://www.illegal-art.org/audio/grey.html


MORE BACKGROUND INFO

http://www.downhillbattle.org
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040209ta_talk_greenman
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=19292
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2004/02/10/jay_z_the_beatles_meet_in_grey_area



--
Carrie McLaren
Editor, Stay Free!
718.398.9324
www.stayfreemagazine.org
www.illegal-art.org