We use THIS thread for posting quick links you find from around the web that are of interest to both the DMusic and Boycott-RIAA communities. (127 comments)
A federal judge has just set the rate to be paid for a blanket music license by Yahoo, AOL, and RealNetworks. The three companies could owe songwriters as much as $100 million over seven years as payment for streaming their songs on the web. As the Rolling Stones once noted, "You can't always get what you want," but the songwriters seem to done have all right for themselves this time around. (6 comments)
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on
April 30, 2008 at 11:11 AM
In this great, short video, Michael Geist systematically rebuts the oft-repeated claims of the Canadian lobby for US-style copyrights -- claims about Canada's supposedly backwards copyright regime, lack of creativity, and so on. It's nice to have all the rebuttals in one neat, tidy bundle. (Read More)
There's been a lot of discussion in the blogs lately about court rulings that could complicate the RIAA's lawsuit campaign against illegal file-sharers. The three limit, to varying degrees, the record companies' ability to argue that p2p users violate copyrights merely by putting songs into folders from which other users could copy. The best post is (not surprisingly) from William Patry's copyrights blog, which summarized and analyzed the decisions out of New Haven, (5 comments)
The Atlanta Police Department joined with the music and movie industries last week to shred more than 1 million CDs and DVDs that had been seized from street vendors, sending the resulting ribbons of plastic to recycling facilities. (7 comments)
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on
April 23, 2008 at 3:44 PM
People who bought music from the MSN music store have been royally hosed by Microsoft: as of today, if you buy a new computer, or refresh your hard-drive, you have to kiss all your music goodbye. Microsoft has shut down its DRM "license server" and left people who bought music -- instead of downloading it from a P2P site -- out in the cold. All those years the music industry spent insisting that the only way they'd sell music is with crippling DRM attached managed to totally discredit the idea of buying music at all. (5 comments)
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on
April 23, 2008 at 3:40 PM
EMI is suing MP3tunes because the online backup service lets you keep your music in your own locker -- EMI says that it's a violation of copyright to use online backup services. (Read More)
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on
April 23, 2008 at 3:26 PM
Ever read the book "Hit Men"? Here's an interview with Walter Yetnikoff, the legendary former head of CBS Records. He speaks about why major labels today are failing to capitalize on the new artists they sign, and why the record industry has thus far completely missed out on the internet music revolution. (3 comments)
Posted by Mike (Shmoo) on
April 23, 2008 at 3:13 PM
Despite last minute attempts by the French government to
divide them, European MEPs recently voted decisively
against "three strikes," the IFPI-promoted plan to create a
class of digital outcasts, forbidden from accessing the Net
if repeatedly accused by music companies of downloading
infringing content. (Read More)
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