Download This Song

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“Download This Song”
“Download This Song” cover
Single by MC Lars featuring Jaret Reddick
from the album The Graduate
B-side "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock"
Released March 21, 2006
Format Digital download, CD
Genre Post punk laptop rap
Length 3:14
Label Nettwerk
Writer(s) MC Lars
Producer MC Lars, Mike Sapone
MC Lars singles chronology
"iGeneration"
(2004)		 "Download This Song"
(2006)
Jaret Reddick singles chronology
- "Download This Song"
(2006)

"Download This Song" is the second single from MC Lars' fifth studio album, The Graduate, and features Jaret Reddick of Bowling for Soup. The lyrics of the song are based on the book The Future of Music: Manifesto for the Digital Music Revolution (ISBN 0-87639-059-9), by Dave Kusek and Gerd Leonhard.[1] The song uses sampling from Iggy Pop's "The Passenger".

In early 2006, this song was featured on the pop-culture CBC Radio show Definitely Not the Opera during an exposé on geeks.

Contents

[edit] Fight versus RIAA

MC Lars, and the Nettwerk Music Group, became involved in a lawsuit that the RIAA filed against David Greubel, a man from Texas, United States, who allegedly had illegally downloaded over 600 music files, including "Sk8r Boi" by Avril Lavigne, another Nettwerk client.[2] Greubel's 15-year-old daughter Elisa contacted MC Lars, citing the "Download This Song" lyric, "they sue little kids downloading hit songs", and saying that she could identify with the song due to her family's situation.[3] In response, Nettwerk, which denounced the suit, announced that it would pay all of the family's legal fees, as well as any fines should the family lose.[3] Furthermore, they arranged for representation for the family by Chicago lawyer Charles Lee Mudd, Jr., who had previously defended other people subpoenaed by the RIAA.[4]

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Download This Song"
  2. "Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock" (featuring The Matches)
  3. "Rockstar"
  4. "Download This Song" music video

[edit] Music video

The music video was featured on Tivo in early 2007. The ending of the video shows a man's computer screen filled with pop-up advertisements, demonstrating the spyware and adware that are often acquired as a result of illegally downloading music. Parts of the music video parody the common iTunes commercial with blacked out figures dancing on a color background. It also shows numerous people listening to music on iPods and Sony PSPs including a punk kid, skaters, and people at a gym.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Kusek, David (2006-01-27). MC Lars - Download this Song. The Future of Music.
  2. ^ Kaufman, Gil (2006-01-27). Canadian Record Label Blasts RIAA Over File-Sharing Lawsuits. VH1.com. Retrieved on 2007-03-12.
  3. ^ a b Welte, Jim (2006-01-27). Label to fight RIAA litigation. MP3.com.
  4. ^ Martin, Geoff (2006-01-27). Canadian record label taking on the RIAA over lawsuits. Canada.com.