Mixtapes under Fire

There’s a brewing conflict between underground hip-hop mixtape DJs and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) over the lawfulness of the underground mixtape. Mixtapes are a low budget, unofficial music compilation of MCs freestyling, dissing other rappers, and flowing over other artist’s beats. They’re typically hosted by DJs like DJ Clue, DJ Drama, and the Superfriends, who introduce songs, talk over the beats, give shout outs, and interview the artist. The purpose of the mixtape is to build street-level buzz for rappers, so when their “official” commercial releases come out, the rapper will already have a legion of fans ready to pick up the album. 50 Cent followed this formula, i.e. he transformed from a mixtape artist without a record deal to a commercial artist by having legions of loyal fans who were ready to put down some hard earned cash for a legitimate 50 Cent album.

The mixtape controversy is fuelled by how people obtain copies of mixtapes. If mixtapes are handed out as promotional materials, the RIAA appears to be okay with the premise of the mixtape because its cheaper to produce a mixtape than pay for advertising, but if the mixtape is sold, the RIAA alleges that mixtape DJs are infringing on copyrights while possibility violating piracy laws because it’s questionable whether the DJs involved have cleared samples and obtain record label permission to distribute produced materials.

Last week, DJ Drama, a famed Atlanta mixtape DJ was arrested on state racketeering charges for selling unauthorized music materials that did not display the copyright holder’s name and address. Drama could face one to five years in prison and fines from $10,000 to $100,000.

To learn more about mixtapes and DJ Drama’s case, click HERE – information from this post taken from the AJC article “Recording industry puts a tricky spin on mixtapes” by Nick Marino and Sonia Murray.