Thursday, January 03, 2008
Amplive's Radiohead Remix album project shut down!
It's The Gray Album all over again! From a press release serviced by Robbie of 1776:
"Fresh on the heels of a story in The New York Times, Cali producer and In Rainbows remixer Amplive has received a cease & desist letter from Radiohead's publisher Warner/Chappell, demanding that the Bay Area DJ put a halt to his Rainydayz Remixes project, an 8-track remix album of re-envisioned In Rainbows songs featuring guest spots from the legendary Too Short, MC Zumbi of Zion I, Del the Funky Homosapien of Gorillaz, Chali2na of Jurrasic 5, and a host of others. What this means for the future of the project is currently unclear, but the originally proposed release date of January 10th has now been postponed indefinitely. As it would seem, the folks at Pitchforkmedia.com have already come out in support of the producer, hoping in a recent news story that "all parties involved can reach some kind of agreement where art-- not profit or bureaucratic malarkey-- prevails."
Here's a link to a copy of the Warner/Chappell letter and letter response from Amplive himself (and video above):
"First and foremost I would like to thank everyone who has been digging my remixes. I put a lot of time and hard work into them and I am glad people are appreciating them. I was especially excited about the exclusive verses I was able to get from Del the Funky Homosapien, Chali2na from Jurassic 5, the soul singer Codany Holiday, and K.Flay, who were all also super excited about contributing to the project. I really feel if Radiohead's team was able to hear these remaining remixed songs, they would feel differently. So I am writing this letter to ask that if you have any post/streams/mp3s of the songs from Rainydayz Remixes that you remove them immediately. Complying with the cease and desist, these remixes can't be publicly distributed or made commercially available. Even though I was offering them for free in conjunction with the In Rainbows download and had good intentions because of my appreciation for their music, the powers that may be are not seeing it the same way. Hopefully I can find a way for Radiohead to support this FREE release made available only to those who purchased their album. For now I am cooperating with the "C & D" only because it has come from Radiohead's team and I will respect that. BUT if that changes I am happy to resume my release plans. Again, I appreciate your support in posting them, but because of the situation at this time, it is illegal. Thanks for you help." - Amp Live
This music biz has gone bonkers. And I think Amp is 100% right - I'd stake wild paper that if Thom Yorke knew about this, he'd be totally down with letting him release this project the way he was planning.
Previously: the Amp Live x Radiohead - In Rainbows remix album project announced.
Unrelated: Nadreams, keep ya head up - I still love you and you'll always be with me in my heart even if you're not here in NYC any more.
Unrelated: Nadreams, keep ya head up - I still love you and you'll always be with me in my heart even if you're not here in NYC any more.
Labels: Amplive, Radiohead, Rainydayz Remixes
