TRACKS:
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love" (Acapella) (original version found on the "Non Stop Erotic Cabaret" album, available on Amazon USA)
U.N.K.L.E. - "Broken" (Re-Edited Instrumental Version) (original version on the "War Stories" album, available on Amazon USA)

DESCRIPTION:
Before Christmas, I managed to prepare a trio of new mashups, with the plan of putting them up for you all to enjoy in the beginning of 2016.

Then, the copyright police attacked.

Imagine how I felt when the IFPI, a union representing the interests of record labels (not the artists, but the labels), gave me two strikes on Vimeo just after Christmas for two of my Beatles mashups. If you Google "Who is the IFPI", you'll see that they "represents the interests of the recording industry". And as we all know, the recording industry is always looking out for the artist. :P

Paul McCartney, an artist (you are welcome for the description of Paul McCartney, millennials), has gone on record, saying that he likes mashups. The direct quote: "I didn't mind when something like that happened with The Grey Album. The thing was, the record company minded. They didn't like that. They kind of put up a bit of a fuss. But then it was like...'Take it easy guys, it's a tribute.'". Hell, his (excellent) Twin Freaks album was co-produced with The Freelance Hellraiser, and was all Macca songs, mashed. This is not even to speak about the Love album.

Truth be told, I have had a number of the actual artists I have mashed either contact me, tell me through mutual friends, or "tweet" that they like my work. So, while the artists don't mind, the labels - who are desperate to make any money they can off of "a product" - take the music down, ESPECIALLY when they can't find a way to monetize it. I bring that up solely because Vimeo doesn't have ads. Without ads, the labels can't slap an ad onto a video by someone like me, to make money off of something I am giving away for free on the net. So what is the label to do? If they can't make a dime off of it, they delete it (hence my two strikes, on videos that had been up for OVER THREE YEARS on Vimeo). TL;DR: Most artists like and appreciate the creativity of mashups, but the labels don't.

So, after pulling every mashup video I had from Vimeo, and resorting to self-hosting my creations (yeah - I give them to the net for free, and *I* am now paying for the bandwidth), I decided to go ahead and "release" this newest mashup solely on my own dime. I'm not going to let the fear of a third party video site stop me from FREELY sharing my creativity. I have done this for DECADES on the radio airwaves. Record labels never stopped the radio stations from playing my mixes and mashups. Record labels never brought charges against blank tape manufacturers, or the radio listeners who were taping my mixes off the air. I don't see this online distribution as being any different from what I have done all this time on radio, therefore I WILL NOT STOP! As long as people want to hear what I create, I will find a way to FREELY share it with the people.

But, I digress...

This mashup is yet another one of my "Put an acapella over an U.N.K.L.E. instrumental" mashes. One of these days, I am going to have to just sit down and make an U.N.K.L.E. mashup album. I am thankful that James Lavelle has the intelligence to release his album both as normal albums, and as instrumental album. Thank you James. I hope you don't mind hearing Mr. Almond sing on your track. Likewise, I hope Mr. Almond likes this, as well as all of you. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: The opinions I have put into this mashup description regarding record labels are solely mine, and are not representative of any of my clients, or gleamed from insider talk about any of my clients. This is all me.

File uploaded: January 14th, 2016