Berry’s Music, an urban record store in Indianapolis,Ind., was raided by police on Sept. 23. Mixes produced by localdisc jockeys featuring major label artists were confiscated fromtwo store locations.
To date, owner Alan Berry has not been contacted by the RIAA(Recording Industry Association of America) or any recordcompanies.
Berry refuses to roll over and play dead on this situation.
“Other stores that have been raided maybe didn’thave the means or the financial ability to take action, butwe’re going to our lawyers today,” Berry said.
RIAA investigators and local police served management with awarrant to seize its inventory of what was considered”unauthorized product.”
Jonathan Lamy, a representative for the RIAA, said theorganization has anti-piracy units and field offices across thecountry that work with law enforcement to crack down on bootleggedand unauthorized recordings.
Lamy stated they’d received a tip from an industryrepresentative that said unauthorized songs were being sold. RIAAagents went undercover and bought copies of the recordings inquestion prior to the raid.
Russell DeBerry, a store manager that was present during theraid, thought that the RIAA’s actions were a direct blow tohip hop and R&B.
“I don’t get it because the labels give promotionalCDs to the DJs to play, and the DJs make the mixes,” DeBerrysaid.
“The industry’s hurting themselves. They want alltheir artists to go gold and platinum, but the only way people aregoing to hear the new songs is on a mix.”
Even though most DJs that make mix CDs receive promotionalcopies of music from record labels, Lamy didn’t differentiatethe production of mix CDs from bootlegged ones. “Just becausethe DJ is signed to the label doesn’t mean that the product[being sold] is authorized; the same way if you see a CD that saysBritney Spears doesn’t mean that it’s an officialproduct,” Lamy said.
Berry asserts that only 5 percent of his store’s inventoryis composed of mixes, the rest are official releases from recordlabels.
Both he and DeBerry agree that after customers hear songs onmixes, many times they return to buy albums.
“If you want to get a mix, you’ve got to know the DJbecause now the record stores are scared to sell them,” Berrysaid.