Grey Album Pros And Cons

Artists have found a variety of ways to rework other pieces to create their own original products. However, only a few ways are recognized as acceptable; mostly, that is through gaining permission to use the copyright materials and crediting the original artist. There are popular instances where copyrights are not followed exactly as intended, though. One such example is DJ Danger Mouse’s underground production, The Grey Album. The Beatles’ self titled album, also known as The White Album, and the a cappella release of Jay-Z’s The Black Album are brought together for the play-on-words, self released promotional album still talked about 10 years later, The Grey Album. The release of The Grey Album caused debate and took a toll on the music industry
Music activist group, Downhill Battle organized what was known as ‘Grey Tuesday’ in support of Danger Mouse’s creation. They worked to rally support, which resulted in around 200 sites offering the album free to download and at least 250 more sites who ‘went grey’ in support of the cause (Patel 2). Fred Goldring, a music-industry lawyer put it simply, saying, “by creating a controversy and trying to shut it down, they actually attracted more interest in it. […] It became probably the most widely downloaded, underground indie record, without radio or TV coverage” (Healey, Cromelin 1). Out of the now legendary Grey Album came the rise of remixes and mash-ups. Less than a year after ‘Grey Tuesday’ Jay-Z began working with heavy rock group Linkin Park on a project for ‘MTV’s Ultimate Mash-Ups’. The resulting creation was a 6-track album, ‘Collision Course’ that included the track “Numb/Encore”. “Numb/Encore” went on to win the 2006 Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. Upon their win, the first ‘thank you’ handed out was to “the lawyers who made this mash-up possible” (Edwards 3) showing the complexity of the issues even when the original artists are the ones wanting and working for the