«A Napoli tutti fanno i cantanti e i peggiori lo fanno per professione». La pirateria musicale come sogno (e incubo dell’industria musicale)

Abstract

The present contribution examines the diffusion of music in urban contexts as an expression of an alternative cultural industry [Pine, 2013]. The case study is represented by the Mixed by Erry brand created in Naples by the Frattasio brothers in the late 1970s and spread through a totally illegal business model. The brand has been responsible for more than 25 years of a flow of sales of 40,000 fake music cassettes a day by flouting the legal provisions relating to the protection of copyright.
Producers and creators of a specific musical aesthetic (mash-ups, parodies and turntablism), the Frattasio family is recognized as benefactors because they provide work, good economic treatment, legal and health assistance to individuals who work for the brand and their families. The success of the pirated cassettes produced in Naples places this area of ​​the Mediterranean in a wider process of globalization alongside Bulgaria, India, China, sub-Saharan Africa, Brazil [Wallis and Malm, 1984; Manuel, 1993; Baumgärtel, 2015]. Together these areas have shared the practice of counterfeiting, the most modern technologies to implement it and the birth of a new awareness of making music before the spread of the file sharing practice. This research is the subject of the film of the same name directed by Sydney Sibilia [2023, Rai Cinema/Netflix].

Key words: cassette culture; pre-digital music piracy; copyright; ethnography of urban sounds; environmental sustainability and social cohesion