[Download] Ex-WERS DJ’s Remixes Sizzle On The Internet

Morgan Page believes what the major record labels don’t know won’t hurt them.

A Vermont native, recent Emerson College grad and former WERS-FM disc jockey, the 24-year-old Page has an Internet hit with “Cease and Desist,” an unauthorized compilation of his dance remixes of tracks by Coldplay, David Bowie, the Kills, Tegan and Sara and, no kidding, Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9.

This music isn’t for sale. It’s a free download. Grab it while you can at www.nuancerecordings.comNo, Page isn’t being sued by the record labels. So why the rush?

“Due to overwhelming demand, the link will be taken down permanently in the new year . . .,” Page wrote on his Web site last week. “Hosting this file has gotten extremely expensive as the number of downloads has far exceeded our bandwidth expections. Have a great new year, and may your stockings be full of bootleg remixes!”

In a phone interview from his home in Los Angeles, Page explained that “Cease and Desist” has become a victim of its own success. But he says it will remain available for free downloading on another Web site after it is taken off the Nuance Recordings site at the end of this month.

Page operates in a legal twilight zone familiar to fans of Danger Mouse, who created a sensation with his “Grey Album” mashup of Jay-Z and the Beatles. Page’s mixes are done without permission, but the artists he borrows from aren’t about to sue him. They understand his house music transformations are worth their bandwidth in free publicity.

“Actually, looking for permission to remix other people’s music is usually the worst thing you can do,” Page said. “I admit I was concerned about a legal backlash at first, but I got so much positive feedback about these mixes - which were basically just taking up a lot of space on my hard drive - I felt like I had to release them. Nowadays, remixes are more of a marketing crossover tool than anything else.”

Page constructs his slamming revisions using Pro Tools software and adding his own live bass playing.

While artists such as Norah Jones have praised Page’s mixes of their work, others he’s plundered remain blissfully unaware.

“A lot of this stuff falls below the artist’s radar,” Page said. “Meanwhile, dance remixes may be all over the Internet.”

While Page is giving some big names some unasked-for publicity, he’s benefitting, too. He’ll be doing some legitimate remixes for Ashley Simpson soonand he’s been licensing his own songs to Adidas, Subterranean, Arden B, Nike, Chanel and Nine West.

But Page remains a believer in the power of the Internet as a marketing tool. He’s launching his own digital-download label, where tracks will be available online only and with much better sound quality than offered by iTunes.

Source: http://theedge.bostonherald.com