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London and NYC Club and Concert Listings Download This! (March 2005) Writer: John Kelly News that the Italian government have fined a DJ 1.4 million Euros for having pirated MP3s on his laptop has given pause for thought for those of us embracing new DJ technology. The DJ in question, who was caught with 2000 MP3s and 500 music videos was, to quote prosecutors, "making money out of the music he played - while those who had invested time, talent, hard work and money into creating the music in the first place did not get a cent." I'm not an expert on Italian legal system, but isn't that a little bit excessive. Don't they have PRS in Italy? At some point there needs to be a radical and thorough overhaul in the means by which copyright is legislated, at the moment we seem to be living with a sytsem that no-one believes in, that can be entirely ignored , partially allowed or, in this case, brutally enforced depending on who has most to gain. A classic example of this is track de jour Amerie One Thing. That track was originally played on a UK-based internet radio station after being discarded by the record company. The track was further publicisied on a variety of different sites/blogs some of which included an MP3 of the track to download. A couple of weeks of music forum heat later, the track gets a limited promo release, is being playlisted on some major radio stations and is destined to be a hit. Now those DJs who first pushed that tune damn sure weren't paying royalties and everyone else who downloaded it played it out and created all the hype weren't paying jack either. If one of them happened to take a plane and play a set in Italy, would they be liable for some ridiculous multi-million Euro fine for effectively doing the exact same promotion that the record company should have doing in the first place? Anyway enough of my rantings, let's get to the music. First up is a wicked remix from Madvillian's album. Offkey and funky as hell, check the World music meets Madlib breaks of the Figaro remix. Download Secondly, breaking enough copyright laws to make an Italian DJ weep, here is a wicked mashup from the highly rated Outlaws. There's a whole album's worth on their site and you buy it with a contribution to the Tsunami appeal. Here's a taste: Donna Summer and Josh Wink with I Feel Higher. Download And finally, here's a nice deep jazzy beat from Toronto-based producer/super-tall DJ Moonstarr. This track is called Dust. Check out the Public Transit Recordings website for more of the same. Download PUBLISHED: 26 February 2005 RELATED LINKS: Download This! February 2005 Download This! December 2004 Download This! November 2004 Download This! October 2004 More Features EMAIL UPDATES! Do you want to receive Know The Ledge update emails? Click here to sign up!	::: RELATED LINKS More Features