Download the Grey Album at BannedMusic.org
READ MORE
New York Times Coverage of Grey Tuesday
Danger Mouse "Flattered" by Grey Tuesday - His Press Release
WIRED News Coverage of Grey Tuesday
Grey Tuesday Press Release
MTV News coverage of Grey Tuesday
Downhill Battle - music activism
p2pnet Coverage of Grey Tuesday
DJ Danger Mouse's Website
EMI's Cease and Desist Letter to Waxy.org
Compulsory Licensing (doesn't apply to samples)
WIRED News on Backlash Against EMI's Actions
Changing Copyright by Negativland
BACKGROUND ON GREY TUESDAY
The history of Grey Tuesday, from our posts at Downhill Battle:
-Feb 11: The Grey Album
-Feb 14: WIRED picks up Grey Album Story
-Feb 17: The Major Label Copyright Cartel
-Feb 18: Announcing Grey Tuesday
-Feb 19: Gearing up for Grey Tuesday
-Feb 21: Grey Tuesday in the News
-Feb 23: EMI Tries to Stop Grey Tuesday, Downhill Battle Responds
-Feb 24: Today is Grey Tuesday
-Feb 25: Grey Tuesday and Music Activism
-Feb 26: Big Champagne Grey Tuesday Filesharing Data
MORE REMIXES
Jay-Z released an a capella version of his
Black Album to make remixes easier, and the
The Grey Album is just one of many. You can find nine of these remixes collected in the Jay-Z Construction Set. You can find the Grey Album and the Double Black Album at BannedMusic.org.
Here's a list of others:
The Black Album Unplugged - Jay-Z + Nirvana
9th Wonder - Black Is Back
DJ Lt. Dan - The Black Remixes
Illmind - The Black & Tan Album
Kno vs. Hov - The White Albulum
Kev Brown - The Brown Album
Black Jays - The Black Jays Album
A bigger list is here (scroll down a little).
JOIN THE PROTEST
The Grey Tuesday protest is over, but we're leaving this up for historical interest.
If you'd like to join the Grey Tuesday protest, send an email to: greytuesday@downhillbattle.org.
Participating sites will post the
Grey Album on their site all day Tuesday, February 24. If you don't have a copy of the Grey Album, you can find it on illegal-art.org.
In addition, we are encouraging sites to make their homepage all grey for the day. If you don't feel comfortable posting the album, and you still want to get involved, going grey is a great way to do so. Eric made this javascript that will display your site in grey for everyone using Internet Explorer (85-90% of users)-- put it in your page all day Tuesday, and don't forget to explain why. You can also change the html and CSS to grey to cover other browsers (and if you're really psyched, change your images too). If you are planning to go grey, let us know and we'll add you to the list: greytuesday@downhillbattle.org.
SPREAD THE WORD
Whether or not you run a website, you can help bring attention to this protest by encouraging sites to participate.
You can also call up radio stations on Tuesday to request the album. Independent stations are a good bet, and they might even mention the protest on the air.
Most of all, you can protest EMI's actions by downloading the
Grey Album on a filesharing network, from illegal-art.org, or from one of these sites on February 24. Also, you can find and print out really nice cover art here. And the music is really good too.
Incredible Success
The Grey Tuesday protest was simply amazing. On February 24, 2004 approximately 170 websites hosted a full copy of the Grey Album, in spite of the fact that many of those sites received a cease and desist letter from EMI's lawyers (read Downhill Battle's response to EMI). Right now, thanks to everyone who participated in this protest, tens of thousands of people in the US and around the world are listening to DJ Danger Mouse's "The Grey Album". Because the attempt to censor this record is one of the most clear-cut examples of what's wrong with current sampling rules, everyone who participated in the Grey Tuesday protest has sent a strong message in support of common-sense changes to copyright law. Grey Tuesday was organized by Downhill Battle, a music activism project.
OVER 1 MILLION SONGS IN A DAY After a survey of the sites that hosted files during Grey Tuesday, and an analysis of filesharing activity on that day, we can confidently report that the Grey Album was the number one album in the US on February 24 by a large margin. Danger Mouse moved more "units" than Norah Jones and Kanye West, with well over 100,000 copies downloaded. That's more than 1 million digital tracks.
NEW: BANNEDMUSIC.ORG Downhill Battle and other Grey Tuesday participants are continuing the fight against music censorship with the new project BannedMusic.org, announced one month after Grey Tuesday. The site offers for easy download albums that have been legally attacked, ensuring that they will remain available. If you're looking for the Grey Album, you can get it here.
DOES EMI REALLY CONTROL THE COPYRIGHT TO THE WHITE ALBUM? The Electronic Frontier Foundation has issued a brief legal analysis of the Grey Tuesday protest, which strongly supports the protesters fair use rights and calls into question EMI's claim to hold a copyright on the White Album. Read it here.
If you still have not heard the Grey Album you can find it at BannedMusic.org.
Historic Online Protest
It's time for music fans to stand up and demand change from the music industry's copyright cartel.
Tuesday, February 24 will be a day of coordinated civil disobedience: websites will post Danger Mouse's
Grey Album on their site for 24 hours in protest of EMI's attempts to censor this work.
DJ Danger Mouse created a remix of Jay-Z's the
Black Album and the Beatles
White Album, and called it the
Grey Album. Jay-Z's record label, Roc-A-Fella, released an a capella version of his
Black Album specifically to encourage remixes like this one. But despite praise from music fans and major media outlets like Rolling Stone ("an ingenious hip-hop record that sounds oddly ahead of its time") and the Boston Globe (which called it the "most creatively captivating" album of the year), EMI has sent cease and desist letters demanding that stores destroy their copies of the album and websites remove them from their site. EMI claims copyright control of the Beatles 1968
White Album.
Danger Mouses album is one of the most "respectful" and undeniably positive examples of sampling; it honors both the Beatles and Jay-Z. Yet the lawyers and bureaucrats at EMI have shown zero flexibility and not a glimmer of interest in the artistic significance of this work. And without a clearly defined right to sample (e.g. compulsory licensing), the five major record labels will continue to use copyright in a reactionary and narrowly self-interested manner that limits and erodes creativity. Their actions are also self-defeating: good new music is being created that people want to buy, but the major labels are so obsessed with hoarding their copyrights that they are literally turning customers away.
This first-of-its-kind protest signals a refusal to let major label lawyers control what musicians can create and what the public can hear. The
Grey Album is only one of the thousands of legitimate and valuable efforts that have been stifled by the record industry-- not to mention the ones that were never even attempted because of the current legal climate. We cannot allow these corporations to continue censoring art; we need common-sense reforms to copyright law that can make sampling legal and practical for artists.
The Grey Tuesday protest is being organized by Downhill Battle, a music activism project that has no affiliation with Danger Mouse. Downhill Battle Press Contact
You can read more about this issue by following the links on the sidebar.
Sites Participating in the Protest
If your site is participating in the protest, please send an email to greytuesday@downhillbattle.org and we'll add you to the list. It is still changing quickly and we will continue working to make it as accurate as possible. More than 400 sites are currently listed as participating in the protest. At this point, we are receiving hundreds of emails from sites that are going grey and we simply can't keep that list up to date, but that support means a lot and we are thrilled that so many sites are getting involved. We will be focusing on the hosting list for the rest of the day. (If you sent us an email before this update, but don't see your site on the correct list, please send us a reminder.)
If you are here to download the Grey Album, please be sensitive to the fact that many of these sites have limited bandwidth and that a huge rush of downloads may cause them problems. Consider looking into another way to get the album, perhaps from friends or filesharing networks (zeropaid can help you find a client for pc, and we like acquisition for mac). If you use bit torrent, you can find a torrent file at seren.net. If you do choose to download from one of the sites listed below, try to pick randomly from the list of sites. Also, you can find and print out really nice cover art here. All that being said, enjoy the music and pass it along.
SITES HOSTING THE GREY ALBUM ON FEB 24
phase.vis.caltech.edu - phase.vis.caltech.edu
abunai.com/greyalbum - abunai.com/greyalbum
23degrees.net - 23degrees.net
piotrum.dyndns.org - piotrum.dyndns.org
(M) Productions - m-productions.org
113b.tk - 113b.tk
83tilinfinity.com/ - 83tilinfinity.com/
860design.com - 860design.com
8bitrecs.com - 8bitrecs.com
Ai-em.net - ai-em.net
ALT1040.com - ALT1040.com
bootyhouse.org - bootyhouse.org
B.R.I.D.G.E.Z. - bridgezmag.com
Bracha Goleshet - goleshet.com
BurningAnnie.com - BurningAnnie.com
clockworkmusic.com - clockworkmusic.com
Consortium For Undermining Conservative Thought - cfuct.org
DJ Variable - windmond.dyndns.org/djvariable
Digispace Records - digispacerecords.com/
digitexturia.com - greytuesday.digitexturia.com
grinder.freeshell.org - grinder.freeshell.org
Downhill Battle - downhillbattle.org
dreamwindow.org - dreamwindow.org
expel records - www.expelrecords.com/greyalbum
drtenenbaum/grey.htm - doit.wisc.edu/drtenenbaum/grey.htm
Euphonic non-format webradio - www.euphonic.nl
eyesun.dhs.org - eyesun.dhs.org
inkstud.com/grey - www.inkstud.com/grey
jexed.com - jexed.com
Fatal Mistake - fatal-mistake.net
Free The Media - www.freethemedia.com
gotcannedgoods.com - gotcannedgoods.com
www.hektik.org - www.hektik.org
Horklog - horkulated.com/index.php
In My Room - inmyroom.omnihosts.net/blog
Ingenuitous - ingentious.com
Judolight - thejudomadonna.kicks-ass.org/phpBB2
Kingcanyon.org - www.kingcanyon.org
kickmetwice.com - kickmetwice.com
khaotic.org - www.khaotic.org/grey
Kunfuzed Mynds - kunfuzedmynds.com
Light From An Empty Fridge - www.fridgemagnet.org.uk
livejournal.com/~greyalbum - livejournal.com/~greyalbum
Lyrical War - lyricalwar.com
Mancuso Media - mancusomedia.org
Mathcaddy.com - mathcaddy.com
martinlittle.com - martinlittle.com
Michael Herring Design - michaelherringdesign.com
michaelhanscom.com - www.michaelhanscom.com
Musical Bear - musicalbear.com
Musick For Our Children - mfoc.de
mostlymuppet.com - mostlymuppet.com
My Analog Life - nofi.org
News Trolls - newstrolls.com
Normlife.com - normlife.com
trainque.com - trainque.com
Nubytes - nubytes.com
Numia - numia.org
OHM - saviorsofpop.net
Our Nation Of Thoutlessness - ournationofthoughtlessness.com
overtheline.nl - overtheline.nl
Philosophistry - philosophistry.com
Riot Grrrl Fredericksburg - rgfb.8m.com
sequent.org - sequent.org
sam.blogs.com - sam.blogs.com
Sir Bump - sirbump.com
Sound Slam - soundslam.com
Stephen Laniel's Unspecified Bunker - (long link)
synthesize.us - synthesize.us
aypwip.org - aypwip.org
Stephen's Web - downes.ca
Team Shocker - teamshocker.com
TDBRecords - TDBRecords.com
That's How It Happened - howithappened.com
The Little Room - kylehebert.blogspot.com
The MP3 Truth - themp3truth.com
The World Around Me - mancusomedia.org/blog
Thee Butterscotch Threshold - www.thebutterscotchthreshold.com
This Cathartic Nail - freethinkersmovement.com/cathartic
Vauss - www.vauss.com
Writing My Name In Water - danwinckler.com
akenanet.com - akenanet.com/grey
arellanes.com - arellanes.com
ocf.berkeley.edu/~cfarivar/web/greyalbum/ - ocf.berkeley.edu/~cfarivar/web/greyalbum/
benquilter.com - benquilter.com
blueskin.bloguje.cz - blueskin.bloguje.cz
bluetack.co.uk - bluetack.co.uk
bwilms.com - bwilms.com
chezlubacov.org - chezlubacov.org
cementhorizon.com - cementhorizon.com
cpmwww.com - cpmwww.com
cscott.net - cscott.net
dabeatz.com - dabeatz.com
damodred.net - damodred.net
darkcalgary.com - darkcalgary.com
death-watch.com - death-watch.com/thegreyalbum
deepsea.force9.co.uk - deepsea.force9.co.uk
deliciousentertainmentmusic.com - deliciousentertainmentmusic.com
denyerec.co.uk - denyerec.co.uk
diggastyle.com - diggastyle.com
druhkram.com - druhkram.com
edgeEye - edgeeye.com
edverb.com - edverb.com
elramsay.com - elramsay.com/caught/
eonblue.com - eonblue.com
fatherstorm.com - fatherstorm.com
fobiopatel.com - www.fobiopatel.com
foundationdeckstands.com - foundationdeckstands.com
fourstones.net - fourstones.net
francisco.terawap.co.uk - francisco.terawap.co.uk/grey_album/
www.whatthedale.com- www.whatthedale.com/dm/
ftp://grey:album@amplify.myftp.org - ftp://grey:album@amplify.myftp.org
www.girlsareweird.com - www.girlsareweird.com
gisleson.com - gisleson.com/blog
ginaric.com - ginaric.com
gomercentral.com - gomercentral.com
grey.green-blue.org
grey.servemp3.com - grey.servemp3.com/~grey
greytuesday.raxian.com - greytuesday.raxian.com/
grinder.freeshell.org - grinder.freeshell.org
halepark.net - halepark.net
hektik.org - hektik.org
hiphophobbyklub.nl - hiphophobbyklub.nl
hiphopinjesmoel.com - hiphopinjesmoel.com
hipinion.com - hipinion.com/grey.php
horseforce.net - horseforce.net
insanefame.com - insanefame.com
jaydeflix.com - jaydeflix.com
jeweledplatypus.org - jeweledplatypus.org
joopy.nu - joopy.nu
keepitonthedownload.com - www.keepitonthedownload.com
kembrew.com - kembrew.com
kiosk-of-love.com - www.kiosk-of-love.com
laslo.co.uk - laslo.co.uk
ld50.com - ld50.com
m4hireentertainment.ipbhost.com - m4hireentertainment.ipbhost.com
members.lycos.nl/freedownload1500/music - members.lycos.nl/freedownload1500/music
mijnkopthee.nl - mijnkopthee.nl
mine.nu/ - greyalbum.mine.nu/
miserychick.net - miserychick.net
music2g.com - music2g.com
musiccollection.nu - musiccollection.nu
naraznik.vozovna.cz - naraznik.vozovna.cz
nebulose.net - nebulose.net
null-a.org - null-a.org
offmessage.com - offmessage.com
oniochalasia.tk - oniochalasia.tk
oracle.zenic.net - oracle.zenic.net
partiallyblind.com - partiallyblind.com
peteashton.com - peteashton.com
phark.typepad.com - phark.typepad.com
pieceoplastic.com - pieceoplastic.com
piratetv.net - piratetv.net
radioaid.com - radioaid.com
rawr.net - www.rawr.net
reddoktoba.com - reddoktoba.com
rednoise.org - rednoise.org
republicum.se - republicum.se
retchandcrynge.com/ - retchandcrynge.com/
savedelete.com - savedelete.com
seren.net - seren.net
sixfoot6 - sixfoot6.com
slumdance.com - slumdance.com/blogs/brian_flemming/archives/000647.html
splinterdata.com - splinterdata.com
spygeek.com - spygeek.com
stoneorchids.net - stoneorchids.net
Guillaume Rischard - stereo.lu/grey
stungeye.com - stungeye.com
sugarbooty.com - sugarbooty.com
tastypopsicle.com - tastypopsicle.com
teamgoodguys.com - teamgoodguys.com
textz.com - textz.com/greyalbum
tempting.pitas.com - tempting.pitas.com
thegreyalbum.blipsqueak.com - thegreyalbum.blipsqueaks.com
thinknasium.org - thinknasium.org
tomservo.net - tomservo.net
trash.dork.cx - trash.dork.cx/grey_album
undergroundmusicshoppingchannel.com - undergroundmusicshoppingchannel.com
wheresthebeef.co.uk - wheresthebeef.co.uk
somethingentertainment.co.uk - somethingentertainment.co.uk
thecollapsing.net - thecollapsing.net
vauss.com - vauss.com
www.damodred.net - www.damodred.net
www.neilchilson.com - www.neilchilson.com
www.seldik.com - www.seldik.com
www.sleep-dream-die.com - www.sleep-dream-die.com
www.xanga.com/plus_c - www.xanga.com/plus_c
www.kaninka.net/pallih - www.kaninka.net/pallih
says: "Instead of hosting the mp3 files Im giving everyone who can stop by at
my apartment the album on CD."
SOME OF THE HUNDREDS OF SITES THAT TURNED GREY ON FEB 24
2guysnogirlnawebsite.com - 2guysnogirlnawebsite.com
90% Crud - george.hotelling.net/
Academix Records - www.academixrecords.com
Action Slacker - actionslacker.com
albumgeek.com - albumgeek.com
Allure Promotions -
allurepromotions.tk
thehiatus.net - thehiatus.net
andreastein.org - andreastein.org
A Whole Nother Studio - awholenotherstudio.com
AmpMinot.com - AmpMinot.com
Aural Delight - auraldelight.net
angryguy.org - angryguy.org
BarfBarfMarina - cigarettesandwater.com/bbm
beatsareus.com - beatsareus.com
Belita Adair Music Medium - belitamusicmedium.com
Belita Adair Music Medium - www.belitamusicmedium.com
Belmont University Copyright Society - belmontcopyright.com
Bigmalik - bigmalik.com
Blogcritics.org - Blogcritics.org
BobbyBurbank.com - BobbyBurbank.com
Boing Boing (!) - boingboing.net
Brian Hamilton - bdhamilton.com
burntchicken.com - burntchicken.com
Comic Toast - comic-toast.com
crashingjets.nu - crashingjets.nu
Culture Kitchen - culturekitchen.com
Discarnate - discarnate.org
Disturbed Confusion - disturbedconfusion.com
cyphersex.com - cyphersex.com
Solhosting - www.solhosting.com
Dorx.cx - www.dorx.cx
Download Music Mart - downloadmusicmart.com
DrEaMs In DiGiTaL - www.DrEaMs-In-DiGiTaL.tk
desktopsareus.com - desktopsareus.com
Damn Your Ayes - dya.manxblogs.co.uk/
Dustyhouse.org - Dustyhouse.org
Everichon - everichon.com
Ewawoowa - ewawoowa.com/ewawoowa/
Filters Magazine - filtersmag.com
Focus Media - www.focusmedia.org
gentlejones.com - gentlejones.com
grey.green-blue.org - Gentle Jones - gentlejones.com
gether.org.uk - gether.org.uk
GobletWillRockYourCocksOff.com - GobletWillRockYourCocksOff.com
Grabbing Sand - grabbingsand.com
Gravatt - integrationresearch.org/gravatt
entroporium.com - entroporium.com
somethingentertainment.co.uk - somethingentertainment.co.uk
HipHopMag.com - HipHopMag.com
illegalart.net - illegalart.net
joegrossberg.com - joegrossberg.com
jimmature.blogspot.com - jimmature.blogspot.com
greytuesday.holotone.net - greytuesday.holotone.net
Industrial Something - industrialsomething.org
International Music Industry Reform Association - imira.org
G.A.ME - kickgame.com
KRBS-lp 107.1 FM - radiobirdstreet.org
nerdysouth.com - nerdysouth.com
hornbuckle.org - hornbuckle.org
www.kennel17.co.uk - kennel17.co.uk
Kottke - www.kottke.org
Lyrical Headbustas -
littleeyeontheworld.com - littleeyeontheworld.com
m4hireentertainment.ipbhost.com
Man, Myth, Morland - morland.theoretic.org
Miniscule Wombat - minisculewombat.com
Music For America - musicforamerica.org
maximumletdown.com - maximumletdown.com
Nu-teztament.com - nu-teztament.com
injusticebusters.com - injusticebusters.com
OSBRadio.comand - OSBRadio.comand
One Man And His Blog - 20six.co.uk/bulentyusuf
Pixod - pixod.com
Redlucite - www.redlucite.org
Sampo: The Journal Of Abundant Media - www.charm.net/~pete/pete.cgi
radicaldreamer.org - radicaldreamer.org
www.ill-natured.com - www.ill-natured.com
rantings And Ravings 2.0 - rantings.shaghaghi.net
skylab.ws - skylab.ws
Shift - www.shiftfilm.com
Simpatico Buttons - www.simpaticobuttons.com
Skratchlab Radio - www.skratchlab.com
Slabathon - slabathon.cjb.net
Stephen's Stuff - stephen.speedwebdesign.com/
strangerecords.com - strangerecords.com
Oz Productions - www.ozproductionsmusic.com
Strange Interlude - strangeinterlude.net
Submit Response - submitresponse.co.uk/mt
Subterranean Notes - hine-digital-art.com/weblog/weblog.html
Swarthmore Coalition for the Digital Commons - scdc.sccs.swarthmore.edu
The Comatorium - thecomatorium.com
The Counter Flip - jonferrer.com/counterflip
The Weinerboard - wienerboard.com
The Wireless Weblog - thewireless.blogspot.com
Thoughtrepository - www.thoughtrepository.com
Ultimateinsult - www.ultimateinsult.net
WSMF - wsmf.org
vlokfeest.net - vlokfeest.net
Yahtzee Ninja - livejournal.com/users/yahtzeeninja
agentshiphop.com - agentshiphop.com
alesandra.net - alesandra.net
andread.typepad.com - andread.typepad.com
angelfire.com/ks3/acidsuicide - angelfire.com/ks3/acidsuicide
angelsonico.com - angelsonico.com
atmaspheric | endeavors - www.atmasphere.net/mt
badadmin.net - badadmin.net
balderstone.ca - balderstone.ca
bangsplatpresents.com - bangsplatpresents.com
bassnote.tk - bassnote.tk
blog.condimentking.com - blog.condimentking.com
blog.jonhenshaw.com - blog.jonhenshaw.com
blogged.co.uk - blogged.co.uk
blogger bloggen blogs - onlinetagebuecher.de
blogundanga.com - blogundanga.com
carolynhack.com - carolynhack.com
citizenkeith.com - citizenkeith.comcitizenkeith.com
cloudsinthehead.org - cloudsinthehead.org
colorwhirl.livejournal.com - colorwhirl.livejournal.com
condsc.com - condsc.com
consumerwhore.biz - consumerwhore.biz
d8uv.com - d8uv.com
damien.nu - damien.nu
darius.hipjones.com - darius.hipjones.com
deepshell.net - deepshell.net
donewaiting.com - donewaiting.com
dork.cx - dork.cx
dqshrine.com/~draquestar - dqshrine.com/~draquestar
draves.org - draves.org
ecaon.homelinux.org - ecaon.homelinux.org
electricsheep.org - electricsheep.org
fairsharers.com - fairsharers.com
flam3.com - flam3.com
fotap.org - fotap.org
free-conversant.com/thom - free-conversant.com/thom
losratones.com - losratones.com
freon84.blogspot.com - freon84.blogspot.com
fujichia.com - fujichia.com
garrettguillotte.com - garrettguillotte.com
geekpunk - www.geekpunk.net
geocities.com/stevejvancamp/VanCamp.html - geocities.com/stevejvancamp/VanCamp.html
giagia.blogspot.com - giagia.blogspot.com
grillo.tk - grillo.tk
groonk.net - groonk.net
groups.msn.com/Cryingbutstrong/messages.msnw - groups.msn.com/Cryingbutstrong/messages.msnw
hiphopmusic.com - hiphopmusic.com
hobbsnfam.com - hobbsnfam.com
home.earthlink.net/~starwrek - home.earthlink.net/~starwrek
homepage.ntlworld.com/s.huda - homepage.ntlworld.com/s.huda
idledays.net - idledays.net
indexconcept.com - indexconcept.com
j-san.net - j-san.net
jashter.com - jashter.com
jeremyflint.com - www.jeremyflint.com
john-book.com - john-book.com
jointz.com - jointz.com
karlmuzziklab.blogspot.com - karlmuzziklab.blogspot.com
ctown.blogspot.com - ctown.blogspot.com
leisurely.com - leisurely.com
livejournal.com/users/avalanche641 - livejournal.com/users/avalanche641
livejournal.com/users/fullofstarz - livejournal.com/users/fullofstarz
livejournal.com/users/helloapollo - livejournal.com/users/helloapollo
livejournal.com/users/sedesdraconis - livejournal.com/users/sedesdraconis/
livejournal.com/users/soyfeo408 - livejournal.com/users/so