The music industry does not value creativity. It is a well-known fact that the five major labels produce albums not because they sound good, but because they sound profitable. Of course, some bands are both talented and marketable to a mainstream audience, but this is not always the case. I could live with the situation I have just mentioned. I understand enough about business to realize that selling 2 million copies of a CD will always create more income for everyone in the music industry than a 20 thousand CD pressing. What I can't pardon is the foolish way in which the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) tries to stifle creativity through childish lawsuits and greedy copyright policies.
I know many people complain about how boy bands and bubble-gum pop crowd the airwaves like freshmen crowding an off-campus basement. But in all reality, who else besides freshmen—and the occasional sophomore—actually go to basement parties? In the same way, how many people actually tune to the local radio station hoping to find something besides chart-topping (pop music) songs? With the exception of college radio, all music heard on the airwaves is technically pop music; it is music that is popular. The problem isn't that radio stations play popular songs and ignore a musically diverse independent music scene, it's that the mainstream music industry actively seeks to stamp out instances of creativity by establishing monopolies on radio stations, concert venues, ticket-sellers, record stores, and every other medium available to independent musicians.
The argument that the RIAA retreats to every time their credibility is questioned or they reinforce the copyright fence that they have built around their "intellectual rights" is that the music industry is plagued by declining profits. No kidding! I suppose they don't recognize that the worldwide economy is in a slump and the American economy is in the toilet. Or maybe they didn't notice that today's listeners aren't all that interested in poorly veiled rehashes of the same mediocre stuff pumped out five years ago at the height of the bubble-gum craze. One good song on an album doesn't really give me an urge to go waste $19 for a plastic disc that I could make for $.10. Or perhaps the public is none too pleased about the RIAA's efforts to sue the very customers they are trying to woo. I'll tell you, there's nothing like giant corporations slapping a twelve-year-old with a $2,000 lawsuit to make me feel all warm and fuzzy on the inside! I honestly can't fathom how they can logically conclude that suing your intended audience is a good idea. I really would like to know how they came to the conclusion, "Let's sue the kids! That'll make the people love us and give us lots of money!"
All this talk of greed brings me to the reason I felt compelled to write this article in the first place: the suppression of something known as the Grey Album. For those of you who aren't familiar with this little piece of remix heaven, the Grey Album by DJ Danger Mouse combines the rhymes of Jay-Z's Black Album with music sampled from the Beatles' White Album. Sure, it sounds like a contrived concept (Black Album plus White Album equals Grey Album), but the album is also really good. Because DJ Danger Mouse did not get permission from EMI, the record label that claims ownership of the Beatles' recordings, to use the White Album samples in the Grey Album, EMI has sent him a cease and desist letter forbidding any more pressings of the Grey Album (there were only 3,000 pressed in total).
However, a protest site has responded loudly and decided to fight back for fair use of copyrighted works. Grey Tuesday (February 24) organized the effort to offer the Grey Album as a free download from hundreds of different websites so that the creative process would not be stopped by a greedy major label... again. It is unlikely that EMI is going to lose money by decreased White Album sales due to samples included in a re-mixed hip-hop record. The Black Album was released in an a cappella version specifically intended for re-mixing.
If I want to listen to the Fab Four, I'll buy the Beatles' album—their 36-year-old album. Likewise, if I want to listen to Jay-Z, I'll go out and buy the Black Album. The Grey Album is not either of these albums. It takes previously released artistic works and combines them in creative ways to make a new work of art. Any legitimate argument that the major labels make against music piracy is weakened when they reveal themselves as more concerned over making money than making music. When the RIAA claims that illegal file sharing will be the downfall of the music industry, we have to ask ourselves, "Is that really such a bad thing?"