What’s wrong here, I think, is that the market and technology for consuming music is moving faster than the copyright law. Mixtape DJ’s don’t just string a bunch of unauthorized tracks together and sell them for profit — a lot of work goes into these, work that I think the DJ has just as much of a right to be renumerated for as the original artist.

The problem is that the record labels are more than happy to let it all go on under the radar if it means increased sales of records. And frankly, they’ve provided absolutely no evidence that the mixtape scene has done anything to hurt the sales of the artists whose tracks can be found on them.

Add to that the costs of legally licensing a track, not to mention rights to modify them, would make it prohibitively expensive for the DJs to produce and sell them at a reasonable price for any kind of profit. And why should these DJs spend all their time promoting these artists for free?

You said,
“And that’s why my video focused specifically on DJ Drama, as opposed to all the small-time DJs who scrounge around for album leaks.”

First, that statement assumes that DJ Drama ‘never’ puts unauthorized music on his tapes, when in fact that is almost the ‘definition’ of a hip hop mixtape (I’m not assuming, as you said, I know as a member of the hip hop community in new york).

Second, those “small-time DJs” 1)comprise most of the ones selling copyrighting music and 2) So it’s okay if the mixtape DJ is “big time famous” as opposed to “small time”? As you said, there are a lot of grey areas and I think you are letting them unduly influence your position. Plain and simple, 99.9 percent of mixtape DJs sell copyrighted music–that’s illegal. The fact that a mixtape DJ does legitimate CDs “in addition to” underground copyright violating mixtapes doesn’t absolve the crime. They are profiting from other people’s work, and no amount of promotion, buzz, street cred, etc. is worth it. Further, it’s not enough that an “artist” looks the other way, because it’s not just the artist who has a stake, it’s the label too. They have to protect their product and their investment. This goes not just for major labels, but for independent african-american label owners.

As an indie lable owner, if you’ve sunk several hundred thousand dollars into an artist, you simply cannot afford some mixtape DJ selling thousands of copies of your hit single/full-CD on the streets–you NEED that money.

You pose all this like it’s “Big Labels vs. The Small Guy”. And that’s false. It’s the little labels that are effected as well by “anyone” who sells their sound recordings for money.

Again I ask you: Do you think you or I could take all of Sway’s recorded performances/hosting events/etc. and sell them on DVD without him being upset? Please, we all know the answer to that. No amount of promotion would trump him knowing someone else is making money on his name with no profits going to him.

What you fail to mention in your video is how many mixtapes have killed whole albums and forced an artist to either rush a release, record new material, or in some extreme cases scrap the whole project. THAT’S why no major artists are defending these mixtape DJs.

In the end, your argument won’t hold up because you yourself admit that most mixtape DJs sell copyrighted works. The only way you can keep up your position is if you can prove that DJ Drama has ‘never’ sold a copyrighted work without permission. Well, actually, we’re about to find all that out in court. Prepare the towel to get the egg off your face.

“Your argument is weak and doesn’t stand up to the facts. Case closed.”

Your assessment of how rappers view mixtapes wasn’t based in fact, merely mind-reading and conjecture. And arguably the same goes for my own assessment.

But if you want empirical evidence to support my conjecture that many rappers see value in mixtapes, there’s an endless list of major-label rappers who have personally teamed up with mixtape DJs to produce CDs featuring their own work: 50 Cent, Eminem, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Ludacris, Game, Ghostface Killah, Puff Daddy/Puffy/Diddy, Busta Rhymes.. I could go on and on.

Perhaps you believe all these artists did this against their will, fearing retribution from “the streets” or the mixtape mafia or something? But I think it’s more likely these artists appreciate how mixtapes can play a vital role as a promotional tool on a grassroots level.

Mixtapes are a complicated issue, with lots of gray areas and blurred lines. Every DJ doesn’t play the same role, and every artist isn’t in the same position to benefit or suffer from them. But even Lil Wayne’s jumbled statement acknowledged that when done right, mixtapes can be a positive thing.

And that’s why my video focused specifically on DJ Drama, as opposed to all the small-time DJs who scrounge around for album leaks. The CDs he produces (working directly with artists like T.I., Young Jeezy, Little Brother and Lil Wayne himself) are among the best examples of a mixtape DJ “doing it right,” with work that is beneficial for everyone involved.

That, along with the fact that major labels are most likely paying Drama for his work, is what makes the RIAA’s actions so ridiculous.

Name the long list of major rappers who have come forward to protest the arrest of that mixtape DJ you mentioned.

You can’t.

The rappers see mixtape DJs as parasites, so one less mixtap DJ is no big deal at all. Naming journalists and DJs who speak up is meaningless because it’s not their music that’s being pirated. They have no horse in that race. They just are fans and pundits, just like you.

Major rappers could care less about mixtape DJs being shut down. It actually helps them to not have another parasite stealing their music profits.

The days when a hip hop music act benefitted from mixtape street promotion is long gone. The Internet is the new mixtape, only most people trading tracks online aren’t packaging them for commercial re-sale like the mixtape DJs do, so the promotion/exposure is more pure, driven by love of music, rather than love PLUS profit motive (as in the case of mixtape DJs).

Your argument is weak and doesn’t stand up to the facts. Case closed.

As for my example, it “is” apt. There’s no way on earth you’d be okay with for profit business using your name and image without permission. Citing your inclusion on mixtapes isn’t a good example because mixtapes don’t thrive off of the voices of little known late night radio announcers, they thrive off of rap stars. Unless you’ve started making rap records and didn’t tell anyone, then any exposure you got on a mixtape was most likely more to “your” benefit than the mixtape DJ’s. When you start generating something other than interstitial comments over other people’s records, then maybe you’ll have a better since of what it means to create original works and have a desire to be paid for that original work.

But I’m sure you already know this (since you obviously know it all).

Honestly though, if MTV’s Sway (original cornball) made a 60 minute film, and some kid took 30 minutes of his film, chopped it up, put it on a DVD and sold it for cash on the streets, I have trouble believing he’d be okay with it. No, I KNOW he would not be okay with it. And he would be right. This is what happens to hip hop artists all the time, and contrary to what you would have people believe, they are not okay with people making money off their work without getting any profit. They just can’t be vocal about it (look at the flack Lil Wayne got).

Personally, I like to be paid for my work. Maybe you don’t. I guess that’s what being a Socialist is about about, right Mr. Smooth?