I will assume that all of you people that selected DJ DRAMA as one of your artists in the cRap Music Fantasy League are excited about the points you earned with his arrest and indictment on Federal racketeering charges. From the gate, the case smelled like week old vomit sitting on a New Orleans sidewalk. The more I learn about DJ DRAMA’s operation the more I see the classic set up.
DRAMA and the record industry were getting high together and selling dope together as partners. I say that metaphorically although I’m sure that someone in the record industry was sniffing coke. Those people do that a lot. The record industry was giving DJ DRAMA the music that he put on his mixtape CD’s. The record industry needed DRAMA because of his strong influence and connection to the southern markets for urban music. Although CD sales for the entire industry are flagging no matter what genre, DRAMA and the Aphiliates were operating a thriving business. This is incredible news since the CD format and the current record industry model are broken beyond repair.
CD’s now are the equivalent of cassette tapes back in 1987. In five more years the format will be totally obsolete. The recording industry has failed to accept and cultivate a new model that the public seeks and now the chickens are coming home to roost. Products like DJ DRAMA’s CD mixtapes were the industry’s last gasp for life. They provided the consumer the best possible product within the CD format. They also served as a platform for the emergence of new artists. Without the mixtape market how would FISTY SCENT have created the demand for his major label release album? Mixtapes had become the new A & R system for the music industry and that alone was making money for labels because it was saving them the expense of grooming these artists with the traditional A & R protocol.
But all of that wasn’t enough to save DJ DRAMA from the public humiliation and the soon to follow legal costs that he will be saddled with. DJ DRAMA got into the bed with a snake and there really couldn’t be any other outcome. Let’s see what happens when the mainstream media starts kicking in the doors of bloggers because we have a better model for disseminating information to their communities.
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haven’t you heard the buzz about NET Neutrality? it’s pretty much gonna end the internet let alone blogging…..
but real talk…I am not sure if the DJ Drama case is a blessing or curse. See I have this theory that the over saturation of the ‘MIXTAPE MARKET’ has led partly to the demise of the HIP HOP music industry(that and greed). Take for instance everybody’s favorite new rapper, PAPOOSE. Last year PAP put out 4 mixtapes(if counted correctly) devoted to himself, and shit load of music on the others. Now if we consider PAP to be above average in the creativity department, thats still a lot of music. What does he have left(creatively) to put on his album? Not to mention the fact that if have all this music from him, why do I need to buy his COMMERCIAL album? And yeah it can be argued that if he is good he shouldn’t have that problem. But every body has creative limits, 60 to 100 records (good ones at least) in 1 years time is alot. At times you have take a break to get back that hunger…
Don’t get me wrong, most new artists need that exposure to get signed or break new markets, but how much is too much and when does it stop? Also, keep in mind that I love the REAL DJ’s, and it’s unfortunate but they are the last to make money in the HIP HOP ent. ish. So I feel that the fact that they can make that hustle money by doing mixtapes is a win for them. But again how much is too much, and when does it stop?
I don’t have answer or even a hint of an answer, but I know quality of today’s COMMERCIAL HIP HOP is directly related to MIXTAPE MARKET being what it is…
Yo C Jack, as an entertainment lawyer, what say you about the DJ Drama incident? Was Drama actually violating clear laws? It seems to me that this in an area where the law is ambiguous
In essence, the mixtape industry is unlawful. Black letter law clearly forbids use of unauthorized copyrighted material for sale or display (promo purposes). Unfortunately, this whole Drama and the mixtape scenario plays just like the “Hamsterdam” story line from “The Wire”. The industry needs the mixtapes to play their part so they turn a blind eye when they can. When they get/got what they wanted, or the pressure from whomever got thick, they decided to go in on the already captive “perpetrators”. Politrix as usual.
CJ, when you launching your blog? lol
Yo, for the last 2 years record sales have been declining considerably. Especially in Crap music. But last year was the final straw. Only two crap albums struck platinum status, TI’s King and Gnarls Barkley. And I’m not even sure you can consider the latter crap music.
Jay-Z dropped in November, and although he had a strong first week, by the end of 2006, he hadn’t hit platinum. Even though that album was microwaved skunk shit, Jay-Z usually goes platinum within 2 weeks, 4 at the most.
I say that, to say this, the RIAA aint having that shit. They aint gonna lose profits while the mixtape djs making money hand over fist, living it up, going on tour and shit. Even though we all know the record lables give the djs the material……… IT DON’T FUCKING MATTER.
The lables are looking for something/someone to blame for the lack of sales. And it looks like the mixtape is gonna take the fall. DJ Drama is just the unforunate dude they gon make an example out of.
Fuck everything I just said, cuz we all know who really snitched on Drama…… KAY SLAY.
Hey C Jack
I hear you. Although it seems that Drama’s treatment was absurd. I mean wouldn’t this be a “white collar” type crime? I mean these guys didn’t do a “criminal act” like murder or armed robbery.
I think Dallas or someone else on the interents already contrasted this with the Enron crooks. The “kick in the door treatment” of Drama is racist & classist, given that they don’t do that isht to corportate criminal douches like Enron or Congressman Bob Ney
BTW I think the Enron douche Ken Lay Kervokian’ed himself in a self-ethering. Fairly “convenient” dude dies of a heart attack a few months after getting convicted, no?
good post DP, and GREAT comparison of this situation to the Hamsterdam one on The Wire CJ!
yo if the feds come….i got the cal on me.
nah. i just styled on you.
yo cj, nice succinct breakdown of the music industry.
Good post. Online distribution has destablized and disrupted record companies profitable business. Mixtapes build buzz but the companies aren’t making any money. In order to generate revenue from legal online sales, the industry got in bed with Apple but Apple is making money on hardware not music downloads. I don’t know if the CD will be dead because of DRM. Burning a CD is the only way to guarantee play on all your devices- car, home and mobile.
So, I know Drama’s mother (real nice lady–I’ve eating crackers with her in my kitchen on a few occassions). Anyways, this is a mess. But my question if record labels and artists are handing over their material to the mixtape DJ’s willingly, doesn’t that count as “authorized?” And even if it is considered illegal, than would the artists and labels be liable also as accessories to the crime?
^
Reps at lables might be “authorizing material, but if legal doesn’t sign any documents granting said rights, shit is null and void, the label can always throw that rep under the bus for overstepping their boundary. As for artists granting rights to mixtapes, FUGAZI, the lables own all recording rights under the effin sun. I seen B.I.G. grant rights to Dame Dash and Jay Z for “Brooklyn’s Finest” on Reasonable Doubt and at the time, Puff, Bad Boy and Arista was like “Nah, eff that, who the eff is a Jay-Z? BIG’s too hot to be on unknown cat’s records.” Even though Dame paid B.I.G. cash upfront to spit, niggas had to BEG the label and PAY THEM more $ for dude’s 16’s. AND, the Roc was precluded from dropping a single! That’s why that joint was never a single. The Record Industry is true gangsta.
Y’know what’s funny is I thought about this two days ago. What if record labels or media empires began coming at bloggers ‘cos of articles or write ups that were ‘illegal’ or ‘defamatory?’
^ They’d have to change the laws regarding defamatory and slanderous issues. This shit we do is really only voicing our opinions, and if that did happen, I’d move to like Canada the next effin day.
Check.
CO-sign, fatboy…CO-sign, that’s the real talk in a nutshell… (no promo…)