Warner Brothers recently signed a takedown notice for an internet mash-up of Green Day’s American Idiot album called American Edit, and the blogosphere has issued a call to arms. Internet activists are calling today “Dean Grey Tuesday,” and protesting Warner’s actions by mirroring the American Edit album or turning their background page gray, reports the website Americanedit.org. Over 200 participants are registered with the protest, which Americanedit.org says, “is not intended to be a mass organization of music piracy but, rather, one single display of the consumptive power of the mash-up and home remix community in the hopes of encouraging the labels…to consider giving the high quality productions of ‘illegitimate’ music a legitimate consideration as a promotional avenue for all music.”
A similar protest was launched in 2004 when EMI tried to block the distribution of Danger Mouse’s Grey Album — a mash-up of the Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album. No official comment yet from Green Day on Dean Grey Tuesday, though Americanedit.org quotes Billy Joe as saying, “I was driving in my car, and I heard a Green Day mash-up, with, um, Oasis and Aerosmith. It sounded cool!”
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