The Droplift project
Encyclopedia
The Droplift Project is a compilation CD of 29 (or 30) tracks created by sound collage artists in July 2000. It was manufactured by the participants and then "droplifted" into chain music stores. This process involved having operatives sneak the CD into stores and file it in regular music racks as if it were regular product. In this way a kind of "reverse shoplifting" results in the artist's work appearing next to "legitimate" products of the dominant culture. This same process is also known as "Shopdropping" in the U.K.
The Droplift Project began in 1998 when members of a mailing list called "Snuggles," which was organized to discuss the audio collage art of Negativland
, began to trade their own collage works online. Two cassette tape compilations, "The Art/Act of Snuggling" and "Red Hand Dave" preceded the project, but these were limited edition tape trading projects not intended for wider distribution. Discussion online began to steer the group towards creating a CD of tracks, but the concept only came together when Richard Holland recommended the "Droplift" idea, which he had practiced earlier with his group "The Institute of Sonic Ponderance."
Under the stewardship of animator and sometimes Negativland collaborator Tim Maloney
, the tracks were submitted via FTP, collated, mastered, and pressed to CD. Copies were sent all over America as well as some other countries for droplifting. On July 28, 2000, a coordinated effort was made amongst participants to drop the discs in chain record stores as a kind of protest against the music industry and especially the distribution of music at that time. Only 1000 discs were manufactured, but the audio materials, CD packaging, and other materials are still available online for anyone to download, burn, and drop a copy if they so desire.
In mid-2000, the prominence of Napster
and the rise of online music was just beginning; it was rather timely for artists to attempt a dialogue about the sale and distribution of music in America. At that time there were fewer and fewer outlets to buy music (which was then almost entirely on CDs) and thus fewer and fewer outlets for experimental or avant-garde music. Furthermore, the kind of copyright panics that were to follow in the wake of Napster and the growing concerns over music "piracy" were just beginning - the Droplift artists were interested in the artist's right to reuse and cut-up products of culture, such as television, music, and other copyrighted sources, and how this cutting up produced new, transformative art from the original sources. By 2001 Napster had reorganized and Apple's iTunes store
had yet to debut, so the future of music and the artist's role with respect to copyrights was still very much in public debate.
Since then, the popularity of mashups
and Youtube
remixes have contributed to the ongoing discussion.
Further sources:
The Droplift Project began in 1998 when members of a mailing list called "Snuggles," which was organized to discuss the audio collage art of Negativland
Negativland
Negativland is an experimental music and sound collage band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! song, while their record label is named after another Neu! song...
, began to trade their own collage works online. Two cassette tape compilations, "The Art/Act of Snuggling" and "Red Hand Dave" preceded the project, but these were limited edition tape trading projects not intended for wider distribution. Discussion online began to steer the group towards creating a CD of tracks, but the concept only came together when Richard Holland recommended the "Droplift" idea, which he had practiced earlier with his group "The Institute of Sonic Ponderance."
Under the stewardship of animator and sometimes Negativland collaborator Tim Maloney
Tim Maloney
Tim Maloney is an American filmmaker and animator who has made films for the band Negativland, the Walt Disney Company, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.While at Disney TVA, he was the director of the popular segment Mrs...
, the tracks were submitted via FTP, collated, mastered, and pressed to CD. Copies were sent all over America as well as some other countries for droplifting. On July 28, 2000, a coordinated effort was made amongst participants to drop the discs in chain record stores as a kind of protest against the music industry and especially the distribution of music at that time. Only 1000 discs were manufactured, but the audio materials, CD packaging, and other materials are still available online for anyone to download, burn, and drop a copy if they so desire.
In mid-2000, the prominence of Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
and the rise of online music was just beginning; it was rather timely for artists to attempt a dialogue about the sale and distribution of music in America. At that time there were fewer and fewer outlets to buy music (which was then almost entirely on CDs) and thus fewer and fewer outlets for experimental or avant-garde music. Furthermore, the kind of copyright panics that were to follow in the wake of Napster and the growing concerns over music "piracy" were just beginning - the Droplift artists were interested in the artist's right to reuse and cut-up products of culture, such as television, music, and other copyrighted sources, and how this cutting up produced new, transformative art from the original sources. By 2001 Napster had reorganized and Apple's iTunes store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...
had yet to debut, so the future of music and the artist's role with respect to copyrights was still very much in public debate.
Since then, the popularity of mashups
Mashup (music)
A mashup or bootleg is a song or composition created by blending two or more pre-recorded songs, usually by overlaying the vocal track of one song seamlessly over the instrumental track of another...
and Youtube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
remixes have contributed to the ongoing discussion.
Further sources: