Bradford Cox's Mixtapes Deleted by Sony Due to 'Piracy'

Deerhunter's Bradford Cox made waves last week by dropping four separate Atlas Sound mixtapes that featured new material, demos and cover songs on his blog. Mostly recorded at home and in hotel rooms, the 'Bedroom Databank' series was intended as both a holiday gift for his fans and an interesting view into the process of a prolific songwriter.

A problem arose over the weekend, though. Under the guise of enforcing piracy laws, Sony Records ordered the deletion of every mix except for the first volume. Cox posted the deletion message he received and vowed to upload new links as soon as possible.

"Apparently Sony Music owns my bedroom," Cox wrote, clearly puzzled by the corporate messages. "Feel free to call or e-mail and let them know what you think. I can understand them requesting for me to remove a cover but the only one I can imagine that happening with is Dylan. Which was on Vol. 1. Which was not deleted. I am re-uploading the files now. I'll put new links in the posts."

The Bob Dylan cover at hand was a take on his classic 'This Wheel's on Fire' from 'The Basement Tapes.' While labels are notoriously tough on enforcing copyright laws for iconic songwriters like Dylan, the only volume of 'Bedroom Databank' that actually included cover tracks was the untouched installment. It should be noted that both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound are signed to Kranky, an independent label with no ties to Sony.