raid

ever since the riaa raided a few indy record stores and seized their mixtapes, i've been waiting until i started to hear more stories about record store raids.

the wait is over. and this time, it might gain more attention, as they raided a popular store in new york city.

New York police, in cooperation with the RIAA, arrested five employees of Kim's Video — one of the East Village's most beloved independent video and music stores — during a Wednesday afternoon raid that netted 500 pirated CD-Rs.

Those arrested were charged with trademark counterfeiting, and police also seized 27 music DVDs, nine DVD burners and several store computers. All of the CD-Rs and DVDs were described by an RIAA spokesperson as "urban in nature" — mixtapes, featuring music by artists such as 50 Cent, Nelly, Alicia Keyes and Jay-Z.

and more raids have probably been going on that we never heard about:

According to the RIAA's Web site, because several retailers — including the owners of convenience stores, liquor stores or corner markets — are attempting "to make a quick buck by reselling illegal CDs, or, in some cases, manufacturing counterfeit CDs themselves," the RIAA has adopted an "aggressive 'zero tolerance' approach to retailers engaged in this activity."

A similar raid late last month in the Albany, Schenectady and Troy areas of Upstate New York resulted in 11 arrests, the seizure of 3,400 illicit CD-Rs and more than $54,000.

note the use of the term "counterfeit CDs"... but mondo kims wasn't selling bootlegged or pirated material. mondo kims sold mixtapes. to the riaa, djs are the same as pirates or bootleggers. except, that is, when they're trying to break the latest single, in which case they love djs and mixtapes.

when will the djs start making a stand?