Deconstructing Beck, the album of sonic noisescapes built solely

from illegal samples of songs by art-rock collagist Beck, has inspired

legal action from corporations that have a stake in the artist's career.

But BMG Songs, Inc., the publisher of most of Beck's music, and Geffen

Records, Inc., the company that releases albums by Beck on its DGC

label, have so far failed to actually find the culprits responsible for

the album.

To date, the best they've been able to do is to e-mail "cease and

desist" letters to Illegal Art -- the micro-indie label that, in

conjunction with anti-corporate media activists ®™ark, has issued the

disc via mail-order since February.

"They were trying to find out my real name and address, but I guess they

thought a simple e-mail might shut us down," said Philo T. Farnsworth,

the pseudonym under which a Dartmouth graduate student who runs Illegal

Art has gone since putting out the album. "We have chosen to ignore

their requests."

Since its release, Deconstructing Beck -- which consists of

Beck-inspired sound art arranged by various artists, including

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Illegal_Art/Killer_Control_Enters_Blackhol

e.ra

m">"Killer Control Enters Blackhole" (RealAudio excerpt) and

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Illegal_Art/Doublefolded.ram">"Doublefold

ed" (RealAudio excerpt) -- has sold nearly 1,000 copies via

mail-order from Illegal Art's website. Because the samples used on the

album are unlicensed, Beck, BMG Entertainment and Geffen Records have

not seen a dime of royalties from sales.

Ironically, Beck has built a reputation for legally sampling various

artists for his records -- which, according to Farnsworth, was one of

the main reasons Beck was chosen as the subject of the label's work.

BMG and Geffen are now trying to protect their rights to Beck's

repertoire, which includes pop tunes such as

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Beck/New_Pollution.ram">"The New

Pollution" (RealAudio excerpt) and the slacker anthem

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Beck/Loser.ram">"Loser"

(RealAudio excerpt). The first move by both corporate entities was to

send Illegal Art "cease and desist" letters in an effort to put a halt

to the album's distribution. There was one slight problem. All they had

was Illegal Art's Internet address and the name "Philo T. Farnsworth."

In early April, BMG made a concerted effort to track down Farnsworth,

questioning anyone who had spoken to him about the record. Apparently,

the search for Farnsworth and any other principals behind Illegal Art

was fruitless. In turn, BMG was forced to e-mail a "cease and desist"

letter on April 8 to the elusive Farnsworth.

In a similar move, Geffen employee Susan Hilderley e-mailed a generic

"cease and desist" letter to Illegal Art on Friday. In it, Geffen

Records insisted that the people responsible for the album must respond

within seven days by sending an affidavit confirming that Illegal Art

complied with Geffen's demand. The earlier letter -- written by Peter

Brodsky, assistant director of legal and business affairs at parent

company BMG Entertainment -- suggests that BMG

hadn't even been able to track down a copy of the disc: "It is our

understanding that the CD contains 13 tracks, each of which is entirely

comprised of samples or snippets from various compositions written and

recorded by Beck, one of America's most prominent recording artists."

The letter further states, "Your unlawful use of Beck's material on

Deconstructing Beck constitutes an infringement of BMG's and

Beck's rights under the U.S. Copyright Law. We demand that you

immediately cease and desist from any further sales of Deconstructing

Beck."

While Illegal Art has continued to press ahead and sell its discs, the

threat of legal challenges from a multinational entertainment

conglomerate such as BMG has provoked Farnsworth. "We're currently

receiving legal advice," he said, "and are debating whether we should

lay low or push this thing as far as we can take it."

As for pursuing the matter further on their end, BMG is keeping mum for

now. "Right now, we've just sent the letter; everything else is kind of

pending," said Jennifer Press, a spokeswoman for BMG Songs. "We'll see

what happens." Beck is reportedly aware of the CD, but has not expressed

any concerns over its distribution.

If Illegal Art and ®™ark decide to continue releasing the disc,

they will have a new set of helping hands. Seeland, the record label

owned and operated by the San Francisco-based noise-rock band

Negativland, has offered to get involved. It's an appropriate alliance,

considering that the sample-laden act Negativland had their own

copyright violation problems a few years back with their track "U2,"

which illegally lifted recordings of both radio personality Casey Kasem

and U2.

"We just sent a token copy to Negativland, and one of them wrote us

saying, 'Why weren't we invited?' " Farnsworth said. "After talking to

them, they mentioned that Seeland could help us out." Already,

Deconstructing Beck is only available from Seeland's mail-order,

with basically the same packaging [a stickered cardboard envelope],

although now it has a bigger sticker with the track-listing info,

Farnsworth added.

Illegal Art and Seeland have also discussed a plan to release the disc

to stores with more typical packaging, but that's on hold for the

moment. In the meantime, Deconstructing Beck has united kindred

spirits -- Farnsworth said Negativland plans to contribute a track to

the next Illegal Art release.