We been followin this since DAY-1, and they shoulda included us (and/or the big homie Mr. Davey D) in this segment, but fuck it...
As seen on youtube
Last year Homeland Security shutdown several key hip hop websites for copyright infringement. These were sites that worked closely with the labels, basically the labels gave them the music to leak. Should the labels have come to the defence of the websites?
LowKey, JasFly, Eb The Celeb and Blogxilla discuss.
Following raids earlier in the year which took out several sites and domain names connected to the streaming of Hollywood movies, we can now report fresh Department of Homeland Security / Immigration and Customs Enforcement action against a site in the music sector.
Acting on a search warrant issued on 23rd November and signed by United States Magistrate Judge Jeff Kaplan, DHS and ICE agents arrived at a Dallas datacenter Tuesday with orders to take down the 146,500 member RapGodFathers site (RGF), seize its servers and gather evidence on its owners, administrators and moderators.
The same, apparently, has also happened to OnSmash, another major hip hop site.
And — no shock here — the OnSmash team wasn't warned or provided with an explanation.
[RapGodFathers] had been in operation since 2005 and the authorities were authorized to take evidence relating to all activities right back to April 1st of that year.
"We only link to mixtapes, albums in the hiphop/rap genre," a senior staff member told TorrentFreak this morning.
"Lots of those mixtapes help new artists become much bigger for example Drake, Chamillionaire, Wiz Khalifa. It also gives the users to listen to an album before buying it to judge the quality. Almost 99% of the time if people on RGF liked the album and posted positive comments, that given artist had a big success."
The same can certainly be said for OnSmash, as well as all the other sites devoted to preserving Hip Hop, promoting dedicated artists and getting music out to the fans — and we got proof:
Our GYMR Resident Emcee AWKWORD has expanded his fan base significantly since beginning in late 2009 to submit to — and receive support from — 2DopeBoyz, XXL, Kevin Nottingham, Hip Hop Chronicle and other leading sites.
Here at GYMR, we don't post as much music as the aforementioned sites, as we focus equally on street culture, art, fashion and politics; however, when we do post music, we do so WITH THE ARTIST'S PERMISSION (as we imagine the other sites do too).
So, Feds, before you start busting down our doors, do your research. And GTFOH!
After 16 years, Fat Beats has announced the closing of the legendary label’s two remaining retail locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fat Beats will celebrate the legacies of the stores, which are scheduled to close in early September (New York: September 4th, Los Angeles: September 18th) by throwing a series of blow-out sales and tribute parties open to the public during their last weeks. Fans can check www.FatBeats.com for updates.
The rest of the afternoon, my twitter feed was filled with people's memories of the legendary hip hop shop. Some of the biggest hip hop sites (e.g., HipHopDX and XXL) solicited fans' reactions with hashtags such as #FatBeatsMemories, #FatBeatsForever and #FatBeatsRIP.
The Brown Bag AllStars followed in the footsteps of Non Phixion and the Arsonists in making the original store on 6th Avenue in Manhattan their stomping grounds.
And they weren't alone among artists simultaneously lamenting and celebrating. At about 1:30, Fat Beats's DJ Eclipse tweeted: "Fat Beats NY & Fat Beats LA are closing in September. Fat Beats Records, Distribution & Dotcom will continue." Then, before his Halftime Show kicked off, he added: "Gonna talk a little about Fat Beats tonight on The Halftime Show, but next week's show is 100% dedicated to it. Many guests. 89.1FM WNYU".
All I can say is that I'd be honored to be a part of next week's show, especially having witnessed past Halftime Show Anniversaries.
They Reminisce Over You
ILL BILL -- "during the mid-90s & early 2000s @FatBeatsNY was a record store by day & Non Phixion's rehearsal studio by night #ThanksJoe \m/".
Talib Kweli -- "Wow my career started at #FATBEATS for real."
Dante Ross -- "RIP Fat Beats I did a lot of lurking In The NY store over the years.... I also bought a lot of records there Much Respect @Djeclipse".
Dujeous -- "R.I.P. to the legendary Fat Beats...thanks for all the love and support you've given us through the years."
While the Fat Beats team has been slow to update at least one of its social networking sites (read: we still have a myspage page???), the news IS final -- and, for many, terminal in more ways than one. Some aint afraid to point fingers.
DJ Scratch tweeted: "Fat Beats is closing because of you sucka ass downloading MP3, AIFF ass no having any vinyl ass DJ's."
Detroit DJ HouseShoes took it to the inevitable (re: fans): "Hey guys? Wanna know why @fatbeatsla is closing? Cause y'all aint buy shit. From artists, to dj's to "fans". Thats why. #thanks4thesupport".
[Fresh Daily x Homeboy Sandman (2009)]
It's OK to be AWKWORD
Well... as far as I'm concerned, we're all to blame. Artists, fans, BIG CORPORATIONS... The ART of DJing is hanging on by a turntable needle, all because it's so damn easy to cut out the mechanics and just punch buttons in front of a screen. But Fat Beats the physical stores are closing not because of the DJs, who happened to keep them afloat for the last few years. The stores are closing because the fans stopped buying. And the fans stopped buying because most record labels -- mega and mini alike -- chose to fight "pirating" instead of embracing -- and leveraging -- the inevitable.
I believe in copyrighting, as I am an artist who understands how painful/pleasurable creation can be, and how clearly one's own that creation always is. But I do not believe in bleeding the people dry. The middle ground -- teasing with freebies while strategically dropping joints at cost -- is the answer. See: B.o.B.: I had like five of his mixtapes before his solo debut went #1 on the charts!
Anyway, here's what I said on twitter (times are approximate):
1:30, in response to news from XXL -- "So sad. This the place I 1st met @ItsDJEclipse @ILLBILL1972 10+ years ago."
3:30, in response to solicitation from HipHopDX.com -- "More than a decade ago, before I ever recorded 1 of my rhymes, I met elder Jewish NY MC @ILLBILL1972 at #FatBeats".
3:30 -- "we always kinda measured our success by how well we were received by patrons, workers & other artists at #FatBeats".
3:30 -- "Back when graf was about hand control & the right cans & caps, I copped from #FatBeats... It's all wheatpaste & stickers now."
3:30 -- "Before DVDs/mp3s, I got VHS freestyle battles from #FatBeats, 406 6th Avenue. And I copped my 1st fake ID across the street."
3:30 -- "1st realized what "underground" meant at #FatBeats -- when I walked in wearing a punk rock T & got more love than ever before".
As "female MC, producer, painter, photographer, filmmaker and all round good chick" H2L Browntown declared: "we are THE LAST RECORD STORE GENERATION".
And that's something any hip hop head or punk rocker could shed a tear over.
Only one thing is impossible for God: to find any sense in any copyright law on the planet... Whenever a copyright law is to be made or altered, then the idiots assemble. -- Mark Twain
