Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and My Long and Winding Path as a Copyright Activist-Academic

Kembrew McLeod

doi:10.1080/0300776042000300981

Back

Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and My Long and Winding Path as a Copyright Activist-Academic

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and My Long and Winding Path as a Copyright Activist-Academic

Kembrew McLeod

Popular Music and Society, Vol.28(1), pp.79-93

2005

DOI: 10.1080/0300776042000300981

Files and links (2)

pdf

Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse Mickey M168.63 kBDownload View

Published (Version of record) Open Access

url

https://doi.org/10.1080/0300776042000300981View

Published (Version of record)Popular Music and Society, 28:1, 2005, pp. 79-93.

Abstract

Using as its departure point the controversy surrounding the release and dissemination of Danger Mouse's Grey Album, this article discusses the recent brand of activism that has emerged as a reaction to the expanding influence of intellectual property law. The limited edition Grey Album, in which Danger Mouse mixed the instrumentation from the Beatles' White Album with vocals from rapper Jay‐Z's Black Album, came to the attention of EMI/Capitol, the owner of the Beatles' sound recordings, in early 2004. Danger Mouse received a cease and desist letter from this copyright holder immediately after it was released, but it wasn't until the company began sending cease and desist letters to fans who were trading and distributing the album on the Internet that EMI/Capitol was positioned at the receiving end of a large, organized online protest. The Grey Album itself is also a useful object of study because it highlights the ways in which copyright law has not caught up with the century‐old cultural practice that is collage. Placing this album in a historical context—from musique concrète to post‐millennial mashups—helps to highlight the ways notions of the authorship and ownership have changed over the years, with regard to intellectual property.

Communication

Details

Title: Subtitle: Confessions of an Intellectual (Property): Danger Mouse, Mickey Mouse, Sonny Bono, and My Long and Winding Path as a Copyright Activist-Academic
Creators: Kembrew McLeod - University of Iowa
Resource Type: Journal article
Publication Details: Popular Music and Society, Vol.28(1), pp.79-93
DOI: 10.1080/0300776042000300981
ISSN: 0300-7766
Copyright: Copyright Taylor & Francis Ltd. 2005. Posted by permission of the publisher.
Language: English
Date published: 2005
Academic Unit: Communication Studies
Record Identifier: 9983557573002771

Metrics

6408 File views/ downloads

445 Record Views

31 Times Cited - Web of Science