The Grey Album by DJ Danger Mouse


The Grey Album is a remix of Jay-Z's Black Album made using the Beatles' White Album as the sole source material. It's a lot more than a simple mashup (where the artist pins the a cappella from one song to the beat from another). On most tracks DJ Dangermouse breaks the White Album down into its component parts (kicks, snares, chords, baselines) and creates beats that fit perfectly with the sound and content of Jay-Z's lyrics.

When EMI (who claimed to control the copyright for the White Album) sent a cease and desist letter to DJ Danger Mouse, and to several record stores and websites that were selling the album or making it available, the whole thing blew up in their face. Downhill Battle organized Grey Tuesday, an online protest for sampling rights, in which over 170 websites made the Grey Album freely available for 24 hours, in direct defiance of a legal threat from EMI. Collectively, participating sites transferred over 100,000 copies of the Grey Album, making it the number one album in the country that day. Because of Danger Mouse's genius gimmick and solid production, and the success of Grey Tuesday, the Grey Album is quite possibly the most popular piece of "banned music" ever.

Grey Album Links

Reviews


A history of Grey Tuesday from Downhill Battle



News About The Grey Album

2 February 2004

The Mouse That Remixed

[Dangermouse spent] two and a half weeks in his room. "Those were fifteen-hour days, easily," he said. "I played 'The White Album' through four times, listening for anything that I thought I might be able to use, and then I started pulling tiny bits off the album. I was keeping track of the time, because I knew this was a strange kind of experiment, and at one point I saw that I had logged more than two hundred hours."

"After hip-hop fans hear it, they're like, "I gotta get this 'White Album,'" Burton said. But enthusiasm for "The Grey Album," fuelled by online file-sharing services and amateur CD copies, will likely have to remain underground. None of the samples have been legally cleared, and Burton doesn't think that the album will ever be commercially released. "Hell, no," he said. "That's one of the things I struggled with. I told myself, 'Never will this come out. . . . Must still do . . . must still do.'"

He went on, "I'm just worried whether Jay-Z will like it, or whether Paul and Ringo will like it. If they say that they hate it, and that I messed up their music, I think I'll put my tail between my legs and go."

THE MOUSE THAT REMIXED, Ben Greenman, the New Yorker, 02 February 2004

10 February 2004

Producer Of The Grey Album, Jay-Z/ Beatles Mash-Up, Gets Served

DJ/producer Danger Mouse married vocals from Jay-Z's recent The Black Album with beats made from the Beatles' classic The White Album to create The Grey Album. The "mash-up" CD is one of several bootlegs created using vocals from Jay-Z's supposedly final Lp (see "Remixers Turn Jay-Z's Black Album Grey, White and Brown"). But it was the only one that dared to use music from the Beatles' guarded catalog.

A representative for EMI Records served the cease-and-desist orders to Danger Mouse and stores such as Fat Beats and hiphopsite.com. EMI Records controls the sound recordings for the Beatles on behalf of Capitol Records Inc. The publishing side of the Beatles' catalog is owned by Sony Music/ ATV Publishing, a venture between Sony Music and Michael Jackson.

Producer Of The Grey Album, Jay-Z/ Beatles Mash-Up, Gets Served, Joseph Patel, MTV News, 10 February 2004

11 February 2004

"The Grey Album" Shelved, Danger Mouse Served Cease-And-Desist

Though Danger Mouse knew pairing Jay-Z vocals from The Black Album with instrumentation from the Beatles' famed White Album would land him in trouble, the producer told AllHipHop.com in a recent interview that he had to put his creativity over anything else.

"It's illegal, I know that and it may get me in trouble, but if I had thought about that I would have never made what I thought turned out to be one of the best things I ever did," he said.

While DJs and producers have created other hues of The Black Album, such as The Brown Album and The White Album, don't expect those to be pulled from shells.

The difference from other Jay-Z remixed albums is that Danger Mouse dared to use music from the Beatles catalog.

"The Grey Album" Shelved, Danger Mouse Served Cease-And-Desist, Jayson Rodriguez, AllHipHop News, 11 February 2004

Danger Mouse's "Grey Album" Gets Shut Down

The attention the album caught had everyone hearing about this project. Even Damon Dash, the Neptunes and Jay-Z himself heard about this one.

Danger Mouse has insisted that the album was for promotional purposes and only 3,000 were even pressed up.

Danger Mouse said he's complied with the order not to distribute any more copies of The Grey Album. Because of the small number pressed, he didn't expect any further legal action to take place.

Danger Mouse's "Grey Album" Gets Shut Down, Jay Casteel, BallerStatus, 11 February 2004

Music Industry Outlaws Best Album of the Year

"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."

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.

"If the copyright law stayed the way the founders of our constitution intended it, the White Album would already be in the public domain, and EMI wouldn't have a leg to stand on," said Wilson.

"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 and musicians have always borrowed and built upon each others work- now they have to answer to corporate interests."

Music Industry Outlaws Best Album of the Year, Zeropaid.com, 11 February 2004

13 February 2004

EMI Asks DJ Danger Mouse To Cease And Desist

Unfortunately for fans of the West Coast producer and DJ (not to mention fans of The Beatles and Jay-Z), goliaths of the music industry tend to see copyright issues in black and white - not in shades of grey. [...] But the story doesn't end there. In issuing the order, EMI has unwittingly thrust The Grey Album into the public spotlight, prompting guerilla music lovers to post MP3s on their websites and blogs. Considering that only 3,000 copies of The Gray Album were pressed and the fact that it has been banned pretty much guarantees a Holy Grail status among hip-hop fans and serious music collectors alike.

EMI Asks DJ Danger Mouse To Cease And Desist, Chartattack.com, 13 February 2004

14 February 2004

Copyright Enters a Gray Area

As news of EMI's demand spilled online this week, music-industry and intellectual-property activists went ballistic. It's a sign of everything that's wrong in the American copyright system, they contend. And besides, by releasing an a capella version of The Black Album, Jay-Z and his record label, Roc-a-Fella, practically begged DJs to pair his rhymes with new beats. So why should a remixer now suffer for answering the call?

"It's a great example of our two-tiered copyright system," said Glenn Otis Brown, executive director of Creative Commons, a Web-based copyright-licensing group. "Labels are saying, 'If you do (a remix) on the underground scene, it's OK. But if it's so compelling that people trade it all over the Internet, then we're going to sue you.'"

Copyright Enters a Gray Area, Noah Shachtman, Wired News, 14 February 2004

Waxy.org: Danger Mouse's the Grey Album MP3's

"I was cc'd on an e-mail from EMI's lawyers to my ISP, stating that I'm in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. As such, I have removed all of the MP3s from my web server."

Waxy.org: Danger Mouse's the Grey Album MP3's, Waxy.org, 14 February 2004

16 February 2004

EMI blocks Beatles album remix

"He's not going to produce any more, sell any more or distribute any more - which is what they're asking of him," a spokesman for DJ Danger Mouse told BBC News Online.

"He's done that in an effort to avoid any legal proceedings. But the album's very much out there."

The DJ was "just happy for people to burn it, bootleg it and post it on the internet", the spokesman said. "Consequently, people are doing it."

EMI blocks Beatles album remix, BBC News, 16 February 2004

17 February 2004

EMI Moves To Halt 'White Album' Remixes

"Every kick, snare and chord is taken from the Beatles 'White Album' and is in their original recording somewhere," boasts Danger Mouse's Web site. However, the artist failed to secure permission for use of the band's songs.

"He just wanted people to hear the record," says a spokesperson in the U.K.

EMI Moves To Halt 'White Album' Remixes, Jonathan Cohen, Billboard, 17 February 2004

18 February 2004

EMI puts it in black and white: No `Grey Album'

When DJ Danger Mouse began garnering attention for "The Grey Album," his inventive remix of a cappella tracks from Jay-Z's "The Black Album" and music from the Beatles' eponymous 1968 album commonly known as "The White Album," it was always a question when -- not if -- his unauthorized project would be shut down.

Last week, EMI, which controls the Beatles catalog jointly owned by Sony Music and Michael Jackson, issued a "cease-and-desist" order against the producer, as well as independent record stores and websites that were selling the CD. Never intended for commercial release, Danger Mouse initially pressed 3,000 copies for nonretail distribution, but it wasn't long before songs from the project were popping up all over the Internet.

EMI puts it in black and white: No `Grey Album', Renee Graham, Boston Globe, 18 February 2004

Beatles and Jay-Z fade to grey

"The (album's) already out there and there's nothing I can do about it," [Dangermouse] said. "It's just going to make it a lot more difficult for people to find it."

Beatles and Jay-Z fade to grey, Kester Alleyne-Morris, Reuters, 18 February 2004

19 February 2004

New Website Sets Date For Fans To Protest EMI's Banning Of "The Grey Album"

http://www.greytuesday.org/ is urging fans to stand up and protest the music industry's "copyright cartel" and is seeking to enlist websites to post the entire Grey Album for download on February 24, to protest EMI's attempt to ban the album.

"We think that the right to sample and musicians to make their music and the people's right to hear it is really important to our musical culture," Downhill Battle's founder Nicholas Reville told AllHip-Hop.com. "We want to stand up for that and we don't want corporate lawyers pushing us around."

New Website Sets Date For Fans To Protest EMI's Banning Of "The Grey Album", Nolan Strong, AllHipHop News, 19 February 2004

23 February 2004

Re: The Grey Album and Misappropriation of Capitol Records, Inc.'s Sound Recordings

We are aware of the so-called "Grey Tuesday" event, sponsored by http://www.downhillbattle.org and described on the http://www.greytuesday.org website as a "day of coordinated civil disobedience" in which participating sites will make the unlawful Grey Album available for downloading, distribution, and file-sharing in order to force "reforms to copyright law that can make sampling legal." Your site is listed among those that will engage in this openly unlawful conduct. Any unauthorized distribution, reproduction, public performance, and/or other exploitation of The Grey Album will constitute, among other things, common law copyright infringement/misappropriation, unfair competition, and unjust enrichment rendering you and anyone engaged with you in such acts liable for all of the remedies provided by relevant laws. These remedies include but are not limited to preliminary and permanent injunctive relief as well as monetary and punitive damages necessary to remedy your openly willful violation of Capitol's rights.

Capitol/EMI Cease & Desist Notice Sent to GreyTuesday Participants, Downhill Battle, 23 February 2004

Danger Mouse Responds to Controversial 'Grey Tuesday'

¡ZIt¡Zs flattering,¡Z says Danger Mouse. ¡ZI did this project because I love the Beatles and Jay-Z. I knew when I produced the Grey Album that there might be questions and issues that this project would bring up, but I really don't know the answers to many of them. It was not meant to be anything but an artistic expression, and I still hope that that is the way it's perceived".

Danger Mouse Responds to Controversial 'Grey Tuesday', DJ Dangermouse Press Release, 23 February 2004

24 February 2004

Grey Album Fans Protest Clampdown

According to protesters, the Danger Mouse fiasco is a perfect example of how outdated copyright restrictions stifle creativity. The label's tactics show that "making money is a higher priority in the music industry than making music," said John Langton, a student and musician.

Grey Album Fans Protest Clampdown, Katie Dean, Wired News, 24 February 2004

25 February 2004

Defiant Downloads Rise From Underground

EMI views any distribution, reproduction or public performance of "The Grey Album" to be a copyright violation. "They may say EMI is trying to stop an artwork," said Jeanne Meyer, an EMI spokeswoman, referring to the Web sites, "but they neglect to understand that there is a well-established market for licensing samples, and Mr. Burton didn't participate in it."

Some protesters say "The Grey Album" illustrates a need for revisions in copyright law. They say that sampling should be allowed under fair use of copyrighted material, or that a system of fair compensation should be created to allow for sampling.

"To a lot of artists and bedroom D.J.'s, who are now able to easily edit and remix digital files of their favorite songs using inexpensive computers and software, pop music has become source material for sonic collages," said Nicholas Reville, a co-founder of Downhill Battle, an organization of music industry activists who promoted Grey Tuesday.

Defiant Downloads Rise From Underground, Bill Werde, New York Times, 25 February 2004

28 February 2004

DJ's 'Grey Album' Spurs Dispute

Online archive of Weekend Edition includes interview with DJ Dangermouse and side-by-side comparison of the remix with its source materials.

DJ's 'Grey Album' Spurs Dispute, Joel Rose, NPR, 28 February 2004