Monday, January 15, 2007

The Controversy

So I'm sure most of you are aware of the current controversy going on with the sample from Timbaland's "Block Party" ringtone which was expanded and re-used to make Nelly Furtado's "Do It". The original track in question is called "Acid Jazz Evening" by the Finnish artist Tempest.

Apparently the track was made by Tempest in 2000 for a big demo party in Finland called Assembly. Tempest competed in a contest for music on old music platforms and entered his track "Acid Jazz Evening" The track won the competition and it seems from there, Tim used a similar track for his ringtone "Block Party". For more on the details of the story look here and here.

This is the number #1 story on many sites and there are even different videos on youube.com regarding the comparison on the 2 tracks. What's happening though is people are starting to send hate mail to Tim's myspace and some pretty racist and ignorant comments have been posted on youtube and other sites. Of course it's the internet so people are going to say what they're going to say but all these comments over a sampled track? Have we really come to that?

I've known about this story since it began but didn't seem to the need to comment on it as I figured it would just blow over but having read what people have written, it's really scary how easily and quickly people can just assume one side of the story. Copyright laws are very tricky and vary from country to country. Production is also very tricky and there's a lot more to it then pushing a few buttons and making sounds. So how can people comment on either as if they're experts?

Was "Acid Jazz Evening" really made in 2000? Was Tempest paid or not paid for the track? Did Tim not know he was sampling another artist? Who knows, neither you nor I were there and we also don't know the details of what happened. All of these ridiculous remarks are based on one side of the story, no one knows Tim's side and until that side is given how can ANYONE comment on what was or was not "stolen" or "taken"?

I encourage all of you to rise above all the bullshit being written out there about this subject and to save your judgments until BOTH sides of the story have been told. When and if I get more information about this subject, you all will be the first to know.

One,
Boogie

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