Negativland on Fair Use and Downloading

This article originally appeared in XLR8R, Summer 2005
Negativland has always had a penchant for the kind of toilet humor that would make Duchamp proud. Their latest album No Business comes complete with a bright yellow whoopee cushion emblazoned with the copyright symbol. As the Supreme Court hears the case of music industry behemoth Sony against file-sharing programs like Grokster, it looks like 25 years into their career Negativland was 25 years ahead of the curve and the murky ethics of found sound appropriation which Negativland has explored through electronic music and social satire couldn’t be more current. No Business contains collaged samples of Ethel Mermen, Disneyland rides and a melodramatic Grammy awards speech by the president of the RIAA on the evils of downloading music.