RIAA To Murder Mixtapes: DJ Drama/Don Cannon Arrested

FOX 5 Atlanta is said to be reporting that the RIAA has gone after DJ Drama and Don Cannon along with local authorities in a mixtape raid last night on the Atlanta offices of the Aphilliates Music Group:

The Recording Industry Association Of America's (RIAA) Anti-Piracy Unit have been watching the DJs for sometime, and decided it was time to make their move.

"These guys are actively advertising online," RIAA's Matthew Kilgo told Fox News. "They've got a website that they're advertising from -- that's where you place your order and that's where you're orders are shipped out."

During the raid, authorities confiscated nearly 50,000 illegal mixtapes, all of which have been taken in as evidence and will later be destroyed.

That's very serious news for mixtape djs and raises the obvious question of why didn't someone just reach out prior to this dramatic move with a cease and desist or whatever would be appropriate?  Oh, I forgot, it's the f*cking RIAA so it's slash and burn from here on out.

Welcome to the death of the mixtape.

Update:
Here's the footage from Fox 5 Atlanta on which the above and all other reports I've seen in the online hip hop press are based.

So how does the RIAA go in with a SWAT team?  It's a trade group with a board composed of members of the music industry.

Choice quote from some copper:
"In this case we didn't find drugs or weapons."

Update 2:
More from Fox 5 Atlanta, much of it same as the above link but with more bullsh*t comments from the RIAA pretend cop.  So far, though I've seen what looks like at least one individual copy of something by Justin Timberlake, all the stacks of cds they show are clearly mixtape cds.  The fact that the website was highly successful with a lot of international sales including to soldiers in Iraq is spun as if it was an international crime empire distributing bootleg copies of major label product.

This is most likely going to be one of those moments where most major label artists fold and remind us of who's in charge rather than supporting mixtapes or honestly expressing their concerns about mixtapes if they, in fact, have concerns.

Further Coverage:
As MTV points out, DJ Drama's:
Gangsta Grillz series has become a street staple and a promotional tool for emerging artists. . . Drama actually works closely with several artists and will put a Gangsta Grillz CD with music specifically recorded by one artist for the particular disc. His releases may be best described as street albums, rather than mixtapes.

Some mixtape DJs do get complaints from labels and artists about their material hitting the streets, but Drama has not previously encountered that problem. When music from T.I.'s King album leaked online last year, Tip and Drama collected the tracks to release as a mixtape, which featured early versions of songs including "Live in the Sky." And artists such as Young Jeezy — who launched his career with the help of Gangsta Grillz: Trap or Die — Styles P, Lil Jon, Busta Rhymes, Lil Wayne and Nelly have all made music specifically for Drama to put on Gangsta Grillz.

I thought that was interesting enough to link to MTV's incredibly stupid website.  This situation is one that will basically require big name hip hop artists to take what is essentially a political stance and collectively push the industry in a different direction.  Let's see who steps up and who sits the f*ck down.

Complete ProHipHop Coverage:
ProHipHop Posts: DJ Drama/Don Cannon Mixtape Arrests

Comments

Thats fuckin crazy and rediculous...Mixtapes are as old as dirt...now they want to bring in the swat team and arrest people...crazy.

[dv8 productions]

This is absolutely bullshit. The RIAA is funded by the labels. The very same labels like Atlantic which DJ Drama is signed through Grand Hustle/Atlantic and his imprint AMG is signed through Asylum/Atlantic. So why the fuck would they not think before taking down one of their own artists? And hasn't DJ Drama helped push TI and other artists signed to major labels through his Gangsta Grillz mixtapes?

[Clyde Smith]

You have to consider the RIAA a front for the music industry which means they do the unpopular things that a record label can't be seen doing.

The Board of Directors controls things. They're all from the labels:
http://www.riaa.com/about/leadership/board.asp

So rogue actions can occur but can't be ongoing.

It will be interesting to see how other artists respond and whether or not they support these two or let 'em hang.

[Urbonics Exec]

Is the RIAA going to target Amazon next?

[Jon]

fuck this shit, weezy and t.i. should just throw all their money behind drama and cannon and everyone else will follow

One, the Drama case is nothing new. The RIAA has been getting people arrested for years. That's how fucked up this is. Read this www.HipHopAgainstTheRiaa.com
It is educational. The only problem, is that the labels don't put their foot down. And the HipHop community is weak, and don't stand up. Every Hiphop artist should publicly separate themselves from the RIAA.