Fair Use or IP Abuse?

Recently, an artist named DJ Dangermouse integrated the riffs and vocals from The Beatles' White Album with the lyrics and beats of Jay-Z’s Black Album. The finished product - The Grey Album - consists of Jay-Z rapping to Beatles guitar and backup vocals.

To many, the controversial album seems to blatantly exploit fair use laws, but Dangermouse did an extensive amount of work on the album, including mixing in some of his own beats, and The Grey Album will not adversly effect the market for any Beatles or Jay-Z albums. DJ Dangermouse did not sell the album, but distributed it over the internet through peer-to-peer networks. While he did not receive any revenue directly from the album, its popularity has made him an internationally renowned DJ and has increased the demand for his other works.

Roc-A-Fella, Jay-Z’s label, commented that while DJ Dangermouse should have obtained permission to use Jay-Z’s recordings, the record is otherwise "hot."




Anyway, I'm doing a paper on Intellectual Property Law and this post came to mind. Let me know what you think.