DJ Drama and DJ Cannon Arrested in Atlanta
No, Drama and Cannon (pictured left with Killer Mike) didn't get caught riding dirty. Instead, according to local television news, local authorities in Atlanta raided the recording studio & offices of The Aphilliates, confiscating quite literally everything -- including recording equipment, CDs, and even (from the looks of the film in the news report) promotional posters.Seventeen people were detained, and DJ Drama and DJ Cannon were arrested. The news report refers repeatedly to "illegal CDs" -- gesturing towards what are clearly Gangsta Grillz mixtapes. She claims they'll be held as evidence, "and then eventually, they'll be destroyed."
In the clip, a representative of the Fulton County Sherriff's office, Major E.A. Platt, describes the CDs as "counterfeit CDs," and says, "statistics also show that you can make up to 900% profit, just on the resale of counterfeit CDs. So there's huge money to be made in it, and there's no stigma attached to it."
You know why there's no stigma? BECAUSE IT ISN'T ILLEGAL. THESE ARE LEGAL MIXTAPES. The record companies and artists have given their permission to these DJs to use these recordings, in the hopes of getting promotion in exchange.
And according to this scare-mongering report, "authorities say counterfeiting CDs typically goes hand-in-hand with other crimes."
It would be shocking how embarassingly ill-informed the story is ("we're told by some neighbors that DJ Drama and DJ Cannon are DJs on a local radio station on weekends..."), if the police involved weren't apparently even more poorly informed.
The layers of cultural ignorance and just-below-the-surface bigotry are so thick in this report that it's hard to even believe that it's real, but pictures of people's cars being towed away don't lie. One has to presume that Drama and Cannon have the money to hire a lawyer who will extricate them from this mess, but in the meantime... is this really where we're at in 2007? Seriously?
If anyone can find any more credible reports about this, please share them in the comments.
Update:
Coverage on Nah Right
MTV News has no new info, but some strong background
More coverage and commentary on Pitchfork: including the email address of one of the RIAA folks in the report
Update 2:
Mixunit.com, the largest online mixtape retailer, has pulled every mixtape from their online shelves.
Like this post? Click here to subscribe to the blog.
posted by Jesse Thorn at Tuesday, January 16, 2007
21 Comments:
Why do you suppose that the cds they got busted for are legal? What evidence do you have showing what they were busted for? Did the police list what they got busted for yet? Did you believe a camera lingering on cds in a news report you already claim is innacurate? If the filesharers claim that the people selling bootleg cds on the street are the real criminals, as I've read in EFF literature, I ask you, why not bust the people profiting illegally? Why should all money be drained away by bootleggers and Apple Computers? At what point in the scenario does a musician get paid or are we just back in the bad old days when unscrupulous promoters and managers took all the money from 1950s R+B artists?
All the camera shots in the report are of Gangsta Grillz mixtapes. The sherrif describes the Gangsta Grillz website where they're freely available to be purchased. A major mixtape like the Gangsta Grillz series cannot be created without at the very least the tacit approval, and typically the active approval of the record companies.
Do you think the recording studio in the complex was for making original bootlegs?
The truth is mixtapes walk the thin line between legal and illegal. Labels are almost always alright with them and usually give the music to the DJs because it is such an effective promotional tool, yet the label's appoval doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to uncleared samples and other copyright issues that aren't dealt with on mixtapes.
I still don't quite know where this thing is going, but it's already bullshit.
That's true, Jacob.... but the reason they've gotten this far is that they are a valuable part of the culture, they're not exploiting anyone, generally, they're creating new value, etc. So to the extent that they are in a gray area... it's still bullshit.
That first anonymous post was silly. His rhetoric was silly. His stubborn support of the authorities was irresponsible. And his attempt to limply push forth the agenda of RIAA lawyers was pathetic. Perhaps he should take the time to discover that artists rarely ever get a direct cut of the albums sold. Perhaps he should know that the "1950s(?) R&B singers" that he alluded to are contractually identical to todays young artists who sign their souls and financial freedom on the dotted line. And I highly doubt that someone who credits Apple computer with draining away all the money (from artists?) could even begin to comprehend all that "EFF literature" that he refers to.
What I find most interesting about this whole debacle is that it doesn't seem to have been prompted by the record companies. Instead, it's a far more nefarious show of power on the part of the authorities.
meanwhile, they have to spend time & money in their defense. sounds like a shakedown to me.
BA, I agree completely.
What disturbs me the most is that the police here (it's a bit unclear what agency(s) they're representing) so clearly have NO IDEA what they're dealing with. And they're willing to go on TV and embarass themselves. And the TV reporter is using them as her only source!
I mean, seriously, "neighbors are telling us they're radio djs?" They couldn't GOOGLE DJ Drama?
Whatever CDs the police are referring to are either legal or illegal.
And I believe that depends solely on whether or not the music contained on them was legally used.
And I believe that depends on permission for the artists and record companies.
So, going with your assumption that these are all CDs that contain music that the DJs were given permission to use, why would the same people who gave them permission (the record company) want to have them arrested. That makes no sense.
And if the record companies aren't a part of this, than who would be going after these guys, and on what grounds?
Are you suggesting there are rogue elements in some government agency with the intent of "shaking down" a couple of DJs. Give me a break.
Given the shaky understanding of what's going on there that the police are demonstrating in the news clip... I don't think the record companies requested this. I think the police just don't get it, and thought they were gonna get a big bust.
I don't understand where the bigotry statement is coming from...I would welcome the police to arrest me for no good reason because they would get sued. Also, it seems highly unlikely that the police cheif would allow this to happen without probable cause and proof to go on. Wake up and call it what it is....illegal not racism!
I guess there will be no more Gangsta Grillz radio on Hot 107.9.....
What a waste of time and money. There are far worse things going on in Fulton County than alleged bootlegging....
Despite Black Adonis's ignorant ranting, I gave zero "stubborn support" of the authorities. The original article claimed these were "legal bootlegs," but I knew from press reports that the police had not released any list of what cds were considered pirate. We simply do not know what songs or cds caused the raid, do we? A news camera's b-roll footage doesn't tell us anything. There is no reason to listen to what the news clips say at this point.
I comprehend the EFF very well thank you, due to 3 years volunteer work in entertainment law back in the 1980s. I completely disagree with their incorrect legal arguments. Who are EFF's major monetary donors and what financial relationships do they have with tech companies who are making a killing skimming money off the top of music sales? That's just big-money corporate lobbying. How do these tech millionaires support the music scene? Anyone not asking why Apple Computers is the largest music retailer in the world isn't using the right rhetoric, period. Stop using weird logic to shape these arguments and start looking at why Steve Jobs makes billions while musicians still don't have health insurance. Read up on groups like the Rhythm and Blues Foundation, started by Atlantic Records' Ahmet Ertegun to recover money from unscrupulous 1950s managers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythm_and_Blues_Foundation
Until then the EFF is just a front for Silicon Valley.
How much do these mixtape producers pay from their profits to the artists whose music they sell? There is a moral ground to stand on and if they didn't pay for those tracks, oh well, they have to explain that in court.
here's an article i found from 2004 about two record store owners busted for the same thing. it seems to me to be bullshit as well.
http://www.nuvo.net/archive/2004/07/21/busting_berrys_music.html
What makes me feel like crying racism in this operation are two things: one is the presumption, played up in the news report, that there would be drugs and guns in the office, when they ALREADY didn't find any. They already DIDN'T FIND ANY... so why are we talking about it?
The second is the simple fact that if mixtapes were a phenomenon that existed within, say, country music culture, this simply would not have happened. The police would have understood it, our representatives would have legislated to protect it, etc. And I don't mean that to say anything bad about country music -- just to say that as important as hip-hop is in our country, it's still marginalized in many ways.
And to Paul: there definately have been some raids on retail stores selling mixtapes, but they were mostly a few years ago, when mixtapes had less relationship with labels, and there was nothing on this scale. It was mostly some cops going in to a mom-and-pop store and confiscating the tapes, rather than going into a warehouse and confiscating everything, including the cars parked outside, and arresting people.
And to anon:
A) Your lectures on the 1950s are irrelevant, frankly.
B) Artists are more likely to pay to be on a mixtape by a DJ like Drama or Cannon than to be paid. This is because of the huge promotional benefit they get from being selected. It's like some band performing on The Today Show. It's not about getting paid, it's about promoting your brand.
C) Whatever your volunteer work in the 80s may have been, you seem to have some gross misconceptions about the EFF. They certainly take an extreme stance, but they're also very much opposed to Apple's retailing system, because of it's extensive use of DRM that doesn't allow people to use the music they've purchased in many situations (like, say, on a non-iPod music player).
I didn't link the article because I disagreed; I agree with you, the article I read is almost exactly the same as what happened to dj cannon and dj drama. The main difference is that the record shop owners were white. My bullshit comment was reserved for the events that transpired.
The shop was given mix tapes from their vendors to sell and everything seemed to be on the up and up. The cops came in with the riaa and confiscated only their stock. I think they ended up just getting in trouble for not having the proper info on the cd's. They lost their business due to the public's misconception of them as bootleggers.
The big difference here is that they didn't confiscate cars or recording equipment. Also, the police never attempted to tie the record store to organized crime or drugs, even though they sold smoking pipes. Had they been black, in my opinion, it would have turned out the same way the Atlanta raids did.
It’s at the very least ignorance on the part of the authorities. The mix tapes are the backbone to the hip hop community and they do nothing but help sales.
This is some of the most unbelievable BS I've ever heard of. The record labels that have been getting promo off the backs of these mix tapes dj's for years should be crying foul, but they don't dare stand up to the big bad RIAA. And now the entire underground scene must suffer. I wrote about your story here...
Jessie-
People pay to be on mixtapes rather than get paid?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Payola
yes, my 1950s music law lessons have no bearing on today... tell it to the judge that mixtapes are somehow protected commerce.
The airwaves are owned by the public, and mixtapes are not.
Anonymous
FIrst of all you are opperating on several misconceptions...
Payola wasnt against the law when the Alan Freed controversy occured. Payola laws were not passed until AFTER said controversy. (Freed never spent a night in jail he just found himself black listed by the FAA)
Secondly Payola still continues today...why dont you just read your link to that WIKI you posted in full...
Thirdly, Payola used to benefit small artists who could pay small amounts of money to DJ's to get heard..Payola laws made sure the only people capable of paying to get on the radio are million dollar corporations (via third parties...which we in the industry call Indie promoters). Which is why the airwaves are currently saturated with so much ...music of questionable quality...
And last but not least...
name one Emcee (rapper for the none Hiphoppa) who didnt pay his dues in the mixtape circuit during the last 10 years.
Drama isn't a bootlegger he is selling Millions of units indipendently. And also promoting new artists around the globe...
I have been to meetings with Major label reps and had conversations with label reps via telephone...and I am a small fry compared to these guys...and been TOLD TO PUT CERTAIN ARTISTS ON MY MIXTAPES!!!! on more than one occassion. The urban label reps know the power of mixtapes...They give us the music for free...They get their artists to "shout us out" for our mixtapes... Trust me when I say, even some of us who are only moving 100 units a mix are endorsed by the labels. Mixtapes would not happen without them, and hungry artists who want to get put on, but dont have the means to put an album together...and vets who want some cheap promo.
Hip Hop is dead...and I know who killed it.
The RIAA and the police...
BTW I dont have any mixtapes out right now...Though I was close to dropping one...
One,
D-Mass
&partnerWhat no one here has mentioned is that the DJs were actually charged with racketeering.
Copyright infringement is not an arrestable crime. You can be accused of it in civil court by a copyright holder (aka sued), but not sent to prison.
So, without getting into the payola angle, in this case, it seems that the issue is not the MAKING of the mixtapes, but the sales and profiting from them, even after receiving cease-and-desist orders.
New York Times has more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/18/arts/music/18dram.html?ex=157680000&en=07a64a8ff31b85ec&ei=5124=permalink&exprod=permalink
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/business/22mixtape.html?ex=157680000&en=56f8340b51870e2f&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home