Grey Tuesday is tomorrow

Mark your calendar:

"Grey Tuesday" Civil Disobedience Planned February 24th Against Copyright Cartel

DOWNHILL BATTLE (February 18, 2004) -- A coalition of websites will join in an online protest to offer free downloads of a critically acclaimed album that is being censored by a lawsuit threat from EMI Records. The action is an act of civil disobedience against a copyright regime that routinely suppresses musical innovation. The Grey Album , which remixes Jay-Z's Black Album and the Beatles' White Album , has been hailed as a innovative hip-hop triumph, but EMI sent cease-and-desist letters to any record store that stocked it. This Tuesday ("Grey Tuesday") the coalition of sites will offer free downloads of the Grey Album, and turn their pages grey, to take a stand against a copyright regime that serves neither musicians nor the public interest.

Any site can get information on how to join the action at greytuesday.org.

"Grey Tuesday will be the first protest of its kind," said Downhill Battle co-founder Holmes Wilson. "The major record labels have turned copyright law into a weapon, but participants in this action will be ignoring EMI's threats and insisting on the public's right to hear innovative new music."

"EMI isn't looking for compensation, they're trying to ban a work of art," said Downhill Battle's Rebecca Laurie. "The record industry has become a huge drag on creativity and it's only getting worse--it's time to take a stand."

The Grey Album has been widely shared on filesharing networks such as Kazaa and Soulseek, and has garnered critical acclaim in Rolling Stone (which called it "the ultimate remix record" and "an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time"), the New Yorker, the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), and other major news outlets.

"It's clear that this work devalues neither of the originals. There is no legitimate artistic or economic reason to ban this record‚§"this is just arbitrary exertion of control," said Nicholas Reville, Downhill Battle co-founder. "The framers of the constitution created copyright to promote innovation and creativity. A handful of corporations have radically perverted that purpose for their own narrow self interest, and now the public is fighting back."

The reporters and news outlets that reviewed the Grey Album have obtained it illegally from filesharing networks. "If music reviewers have to break the law to hear new, innovative music, then something has gone wrong with the law," said Laurie.

"Remixes and pastiche are a defining aesthetic of our era. How will artists continue to work if corporations can outlaw what they do?" said Reville. "Artists, writers, and musicians have always borrowed and built upon each other's work. Now they have to answer to corporate legal teams."

College and noncommercial radio stations will also be participating in Tuesday's action by playing the Grey Album in its entirety (possibly along with the Jay-Z and Beatles sources).

Needless to say, Brian Flemming's Weblog will be participating. If the Illegal Art server is hammered right now, you can also find the album here.