èmé pé très!
It is at the beginning of my travel through Latin America, in Quito, Ecuador, that I encountered for the first time this format: people selling, in the street, burnt CDRs with thematic music compilations in the mp3 format (“eme-pe-tres compilaciones!”).
Not only this format shows an absolute victory of the Internets and Datalove over the idiotic music industry and their outdated practices, but it is also an emblem of these vibrant Latin American musical cultures based on the free flow of copies and live acts, such as cumbia, baile, favela funk, etc. A poetic ode to reforming an obsolete, idiotic and dangerous copyright regime!
Moreover, I was genuinely impressed by the knowledge of these vendors, able to find in a few milliseconds the most exotic cumbias from other countries, etc.
As a huge fan of Latin American music (as of almost all music made with love!), I actively looked for these compilations after leaving Quito… and found them everywhere! In Bogota, in Mexico City (they’re everywhere!! <3), in São Paulo (albeit less interesting), in Buenos Aires and Montevideo (even if there you have to look more carefully to find them) Now, these files coming from the digital realm to the streets are back... on the Internet, through bittorrent, on Datalove.net! <3