Adrian & Mysterious D, a pair of San Francisco DJ’s, started a monthly “mashup” night at a small club in 2003. Then they moved to the DNA lounge, the current home of Bootie SF. Guest DJs spin their own mashups and live music performances are common. This is all out in the open. Only one mashup track from last year’s “best of” compilation was subject to a complaint from a label, so far.
Bootie is now a small international empire, serving a market that obviously isn’t being served by the music industry. Key to avoiding legal trouble is the way they profit: from people paying the $12 cover charge, minus the cut the venue takes ($15 for special events such as the upcoming seven year anniversary party)
No royalties, no products for sale, just ongoing live events where people are paid to spin or perform.
The house band, Smash Up Derby, is FANTASTIC. (in 29 reviews)
In the end, I had a fabulous time drinking and dancing to mash-ups. (in 33 reviews)
The mashups are amazing, and I love the eclectic crowds. (in 38 reviews)
To sell a mashup you would need to negotiate with all rights holders for everything, because there is no compulsory license for such use. Up-front fees for one mashup could run from the thousands to the hundreds of thousands of dollars, just for the privilege of selling it on iTunes. Per-item fees could be greater than total sale price. Only the labels can really sell mashups, which seems to finally be a big deal with the upcoming Gaga remixed album.
Disclosure: I’ve met A+D, I’m a fan/friend of theirs, so much so I wanted them to join me and attend Larry Lessig’s “Remix” book gala, but they couldn’t. He wasn’t familiar with A+D at the time.
Here are more than seventy big thinkers, each sharing an idea for you to think about as we head into the new year. From bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert to brilliant tech thinker Kevin Kelly, from publisher Tim O’Reilly to radio host Dave Ramsey, there are some important people riffing about important ideas here. The ebook includes Tom Peters, Fred Wilson, Jackie Huba and Jason Fried, along with Gina Trapani, Bill Taylor and Alan Webber.
The static image following the embedded document links directly to the .pdf for the book.
8 questions and a why: Who are you trying to please? What are you promising? How much money are you trying to make? How much freedom are you willing to trade for opportunity? What are you trying to change? What do you want people to say about you? Which people? Do we care about you?
Owen Thomas (shown only in Version 1.0) Photographer: Lane Hartwell, photo appears in Wired News
UPDATE: February, 2009 — Hartwell: “no expert”
For want of a nail the post was lost For want of a post the horse was lost For want of a horse the rider was lost For want of a rider the battle was lost For want of a battle the kingdom was lost All for the want of a freakin’ photo of Owen Thomas
UPDATE: December, 2008
This post was written in December of 2007, but one year later, the video is still missing from YouTube; copyright and “fair use” of images remains an issue in spite of Lessig’s efforts, and those of Creative Commons.
I found a copy of the video at the center of this controversy. Judge for yourself! (Original music video using a Billy Joel song and various internet images)
Let’s assume: high-resolution digital media should be licensed, “paid for” and not pirated.
For lo-fi photos, lo-fi audio, etc. we could make use and re-use “free”, “low flat fee” or “attribution only”.
This finesses a problem that businesses and artists have had before; many things don’t get enough money or attention because they are too heavily guarded.
There have been successes making things free or very cheap, letting crowds and time do their magic. Then later you make money in sheer volume, in the tell-all book, the director’s cut, the audio re-master, or the glossy magazine cover.
Ms. Hartwell should not have needed to yank all her photos; perhaps she could have replaced them with lo-fi versions, her name inside the image frame, and never made public her hi-res collections.
Most people should still use lo-res public galleries so people know where to go if they do want the “good stuff”. Unless, of course, you have all the fancy rich clients you need, and don’t care whether new people discover you.
The music industry has missed this exact opportunity as well (thanks to Alex Lindsay of PixelCorps.tv for providing a crucial piece long ago)
Very-lo-fi DRM-free audio tracks everywhere
Two levels of paid-for service: normal (limited hi-fi), or premium all-you-can-eat
Playlists then make sense, because playlists should always “just work”, and be portable
Missing track is a thing of the past
Lo-fi track is what happens when you are cheap or are trying before buying.
General Solution: Make lo-fi versions of most every photo and audio track available, for free or very low cost, and make it easy for “creatives” to pay to license hi-res media, be it one photo, ten seconds of music, etc.
Benefit: things don’t have to be “taken down”, just replaced with lo-fi versions where people haven’t paid creators or gotten permission.
This could enable a whole bunch of non-commercial activity, and should the Richter Scales start becoming commercial, they’d license the work or get permission, maybe share royalty. If they used the photo out of laziness, and don’t care about the fidelity, I think the argument leans toward their side. Maybe there weren’t other recent photos of the “new media d***-bag” (Owen Thomas).
One shouldn’t find the hi-res media by searching. One shouldn’t find lo-res either if one is going to be sued or taken down after the fact. Perhaps this is Wired’s fault? The implication is that Ms. Hartwell’s snapshot is worth more than the final music video, which I refute. How can we let a lot of hard work and talent go down the (you) tubes because the rules favor accusers, corporations and lawyers and provide no clarity, no recourse, no compromise, no simple legal guidelines for simple artistic goals.
(I should mention here that Ms. Hartwell was very aware of the large number of views they were getting. She may feel robbed, but others may feel extorted)
I think what angers some is that briefly showing a likeness, photo and subject not unusual or artistic, requires a pre-negotiated license. I do not think it reasonable to make a career of selling licenses to use ordinary (in this case) pictures of people that you*have access to and others don’t.
That would put you*half-way toward becoming a paparazzo, wouldn’t it? A paparazzo who doesn’t have to compete and has the cooperation of the “celebrities.” These are big celebrities only in their small insular world. We aren’t talking Princess Di and Dodi, fer cryin’ out loud!
20100811 at 11:00 
photo by Leo Herrera 
Adrian & Mysterious D, a pair of San Francisco DJ’s, started a monthly “mashup” night at a small club in 2003. Then they moved to the DNA lounge, the current home of Bootie SF. Guest DJs spin their own mashups and live music performances are common. This is all out in the open. Only one mashup track from last year’s “best of” compilation was subject to a complaint from a label, so far. 
Check out the reviews on Yelp:
