In case you missed it on my del.icio.us or Restoring the Balance or Waxy’s Linkblog (which is where I got it, and run by the guy whose blog who put the Grey Album into the world’s ears) the Grey Album is Entertainment Weekly’s best album of 2004.
Briefly, US copyright exists because Article 1, Section 8, Clause 8 of the US Constitution provides for Congress to promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.
Part of that has been challenged in Eldred vs. Ashcroft, where Lawrence Lessig argued that retroactive extensions to copyright didn’t meet the “limited Times” clause. But let’s look at the big picture.
Because of current copyright law, the Grey Album is illegal. The best album of the year is illegal because of copyright law. You are not allowed to buy a copy of the best album of the year because of copyright law. Is copyright law promoting art?
2 responses to “Grey Album is Album of the Year”
The “best album of the year” IS the “best album of the year” only because it is illegal due to copyright law. If it were legal, most people wouldn’t even have heard of it…..
Personally, I thought “A Night At the Hip-Hopera” by the Kleptones was a better mash up. Also illegal.