FREE DJ DRAMA AND DJ DON CANNON: THE CONSOLIDATED VERSION

By now I'm sure a majority of those following the blogging circuit now about the player hating move made two days ago by the record industry against DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon (who, according to the hard hitting investigative coverage of Fox Atlanta's news reporters, are indeed djs).

As of right now, Drama and Cannon have been released on bail.

Kelefa takes a closer look into the sub-culture of mixtapes.

Jeff Chang's take on how the mixtape game might be affected by new policies that the RIAA might put into place.

Davey D: Its not a war on mixtapes, but about inserting power.

Jay Smooth's made the crossover to the vlogging game; he tells the RIAA to stop snitching.

Different Kitchen offers more linkage to other coverage on the incident.

Hip-hop mixtapes have existed on a very blurry line. Its existence lies upon a symbiotic relationship of promotion for a full length album an artist may have released. And for dj's it is their way to market and expose themselves to the masses.

The "For Promotional Use" label that dj's slap on the cd's are usually placed there for legal reasons. We know for a fact that many of these "promotional only" cd's or tapes are sold, with money going inside the pockets of the artists who distribute the product that usually has the music of other artists.

The effects of this are striking, as online music stores, such as MixUnit.com, have taken mixtapes off their shelves. It will be interesting to see how this case unravels and if it will have the same deleterious effect upon hip-hop music and its artists as copyright infringement, in respects to sampling, has made.

In an era where I probably listen to more mixtapes than I do albums, I'm hoping if anything comes out as a result of this, it will be that artists find new and more creative ways to market, release, and create new music.