As the news of the RIAA’s raid on Drama and Cannon makes its way across the net, it’s clear that people outside of hip-hop simply don’t understand mixtapes. Case in point, consider the following comment from digg.com:

Just a guess here… but it sounds like they were probably rapping over music tracks of other people’s copyrighted songs (the instrumental versions, maybe?)

NEWSFLASH: that’s illegal!

In these litigious times, it’s easy to forget that the law exists to preserve and protect the values of a society. When the law no longer reflects the values and cultural practices of a community, it is outdated and needs to be changed.

Needless to say the law moves more slowly than hip-hop. The RIAA is further extending this lag and abusing anachronistic legal structures to protect a dead business model. These shortsighted attacks are making criminals of artists and entrepreneurs.

If mixtapes are illegal, then the law is wrong.

Tags

Free the DJs, News