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The Black Keys: Still Boycotting Spotify After All These Years…| DMN
The Black Keys are a huge band.
Huge bands lose a lot of money on Spotify.
Which is why, once again, the Black Keys are withholding their latest album release from Spotify.
READ THE COMPLETE POST AT DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS:
http://www.digitalmusicnews.com/permalink/2014/03/24/blackkeysspotify
Copyright “safe harbors” shrink in wake of MP3Tunes, other red flag rulings | GIGAOM
In case you missed it, a jury this week found that Michael Robertson, CEO of defunct music service MP3Tunes, was liable for copyright infringement. The jury concluded that Robertson, whose websites permitted users to upload songs and store them in “lockers,” had turned a blind eye to piracy — meaning that they forfeited the so-called “safe harbor” protections under copyright law that normally ensure that a website is not liable for the misdeeds of its users.
The significance of the case has little to do with MP3Tunes, which has long been closed, but instead stands as a strategic victory for copyright owners. That’s because the jury found Robertson liable on the basis of so-called “red flag” knowledge rather than “actual” knowledge. The distinction may sound arcane, but it’s one the studios have fought hard to establish as part of their strategy to change the level of proof needed to prove piracy.
READ THE FULL STORY AT GIGAOM:
http://gigaom.com/2014/03/21/copyright-safe-harbors-shrink-in-wake-of-mp3tunes-other-red-flag-rulings/
Why The Music Business Continues To Stumble Toward Its Demise | Cognoscenti
Food for thought, for today’s new artists.
Modern capitalism’s shell game means bands aren’t getting the support they need; corporations have found a way to get it instead.
Marx believed capitalism would ultimately fail when the shift to mechanism displaced so many workers there would be no one left with enough money to buy the goods produced. In other words, no buyers, no market, ballgame over. His timing was off. The Industrial Revolution didn’t bring his theory of collapse to fruition, but Internet piracy did, and it’s why the music business as we’ve known it continues to stumble toward its demise.
READ THE FULL POST HERE:
http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/03/21/download-nation-south-by-southwest-john-winters
Slate’s Anti Copyright rant sounds like a letter from your psycho ex. | AdLand.Tv
The rationale by Silicon Valley that we already have the DMCA and it’s working just fine– seems positively Right Wing in its rabid belief system of law. Conservatives say much the same thing about guns. “We don’t need new laws, we need to enforce the existing ones.” It amusing to me that this backward sentiment is the same. Really though, it’s neither left nor right wing. It’s just pure cynicism by people who think we’re stupid.
To blame Hollywood copyright lobbyists for trying to influence law when google does the exact same thing is either ignorant or hypocritical. And to ignore the fact it isn’t just “Hollywood Copyright Lobbyists” but entire countries that are reacting to what they see is Big Tech run rampant, suggests once again the narrative is being controlled in Big Tech’s favor.
No surprise, really. The blog post was written by Marvin Ammori. He is a lawyer and Future Tense Fellow at New America. New America Foundation is a nonprofit and (ha-ha) nonpartisan public policy institute. Wanna guess who chairs the board of directors? Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of google.
READ THE FULL STORY:
http://adland.tv/adnews/slates-anti-copyright-rant-sounds-letter-your-psycho-ex/256965859#KdyGl5zIdACdgSvs.99
Victims of IP theft need better protection By Reps. Judy Chu and Tom Marino | The Hill
Stopping IP theft should not be this difficult, or so costly, to the individual artist, who is ultimately the victim.
In the first six months of 2013, the largest search engine received more than 100 million DMCA takedown notices. The numbers are staggering, but don’t reflect the reality that most indie and small creators struggle to keep up with issuing notices and have simply given up trying to prevent illegal profiting from their work. Independent artists cannot afford employing an entire legal department to monitor the unauthorized use of their content on a daily basis.
And the profits are staggering — a recent study by the Digital Citizens Alliance estimates that the top 596 pirate sites raked in $227 million in advertising revenues last year. These sites had a profit margin of between 80 and 94 percent. Content thieves rely on stealing the rights-protected work of others and distributing on low-cost sites. It’s a low-risk, high-reward business.
This week, the House Judiciary subcommittee on Intellectual Property will examine the “Notice and Takedown” process, and to us, it is clear that a very hard look is necessary.
READ THE FULL STORY AT THE HILL:
http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/200630-victims-of-ip-theft-need-better-protection
Update: Beastie Boys Settle with Goldieblox: More grace than Goldieblox deserved
“Put all your eggs in one basket, and then WATCH that basket.”
From Pudd’nhead Wilson and Other Tales by Mark Twain
At the intersection of “Too Cute By Half” and “Stupid Stanford Tricks,” we find Silicon Valley darlings, Goldieblox. What do they teach them at Stanford, anyway?
In a gracious–and supremely undeserved–act of kindness, the Beastie Boys agreed to dismiss the lawsuit (Goldieblox Dismissal) that Goldieblox brought against them. If I had to guess, I would guess that the paying party was probably not just Goldieblox, but that’s because I always thought that Goldieblox was engaged in marketing by lawsuit and got extraordinarily bad advice.
The unanswered questions in this case are many, but I think they’ll just have to go into that mysteries of life pile unless Goldieblox just cannot keep it buttoned and there’s a better than 50/50 chance of that.
First, what did Intuit…
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The Trichordist 
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