Perfect timing for SXSW!

Music Technology Policy

In case you were wondering what ever happened to the so-called Internet Radio “Fairness Act”, here’s another little taste of what Big Tech has in store for artists–particularly “legacy” artists, meaning artists with strong catalog from the past.  Let’s say from before 1972.

What’s magic about 1972?  That was the year that the US Congress recognized a copyright in sound recordings (February 15, 1972 to be precise).  “Pre-72 masters” as the recordings are known were protected by state law before that.  So it is not that these older recordings are not protected–such as those by Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Bob Wills, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Buddy Holly, Glenn Miller or Robert Johnson–it’s just that they are not protected by federal law.

True to form, Big Tech and their pals at the National Association of Broadcasters are busily trying to screw artists on pre-72 masters out of public performance royalties on…

View original post 662 more words

by thetrichordist

Whose Idea was the RSC Memo on Copyright? Don’t ask Derek Khanna

Derek Khanna has been on a media blitz lately following the White House’s endorsement of a “We the People” petition to “make cell phone unlocking legal”. Khanna — who considers himself a “copyright reform” advocate (but in our opinion could more accurately be called a “Derek Khanna” advocate) — created a moral panic over cell phone unlocking as the first step in a sustained “war” against artists and creators, the goal of which is to strip them of their already weak legal protections.

Khanna, you may recall, first stepped into the spotlight last November after he authored a memo for the Republican Study Committee that called for severe and regressive changes to copyright law. The memo was filled with historical and factual errors (as well as numerous typos) but was considered one of the most eloquent writings to come from the copyleft; it was quickly withdrawn from the RSC’s website.

Earlier, we had noted that Khanna himself has publicly admitted of the memo, “No one requested it. I just thought it was a good idea.”

khannareddit

Interesting. Because just a few days ago, Khanna spoke about the memo to Ezra Klein at the Washington Post. His story was a little bit different this time. According to Klein:

It was November 2012 and Derek Khanna was working as a staffer in the Republican Study Committee, which acts as a kind of think tank for the conservative wing of the House Republican Conference. Khanna, whose job was to follow issues pertaining to technology, homeland security and government oversight, was asked to draw up a short brief on copyright law — something the group could hand out to House Republicans in the hopes of getting some legislation moving. “The memo wasn’t my idea,” he says.

(Tip to Derek Khanna: if you want to get into politics, you have to make your flip-flops a little less obvious.)

by Trichordist

David Lowery at South By Southwest Austin TX

I am fortunate enough to attend SXSW this year as fan, artist and as a panelist.  So much good stuff to see.  But here are some highlights.

March 13th. 12:30pm I’m gonna start my day at the Anatomy of Amanda F-ing Palmer.  While I sometimes disagree with Ms. Palmer about things  (crowd funding helps incumbent artists like myself but not necessarily unknown artists)  there is no denying that she has set a bold example for how independent artists can operate in this day and age.  Before her Kickstarter success the conversation was about whether artists should be paid to record at all.  You know,  sell T-shirts and such.   Thanks to Ms. Palmer, the conversation is now about how artists should be paid to record.

March 13th  4:00 pm.   Camper Van Beethoven at the Brooklyn Vegan Party.

http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2013/03/brooklynvegan_f_5.html

March 13th 7:00 pm  Camper Van Beethoven at the Make Your Mark Party.

March 14th  2:00pm   David Lowery panelist at the “Big Data: New Oil or Snake Oil”

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_MP4094

Right after that I’m gonna race over and see:

March 14th 3:30pm  East Bay Ray of the Dead Kennedys at “Infamous Band Disputes & How to Avoid Them.”

http://blog.legalzoom.com/intellectual-property/hang-out-with-joe-escalante-and-east-bay-ray-at-sxsw/

March 15th 5:00 pm  David Lowery panelist at “Who’s ripping you off now.”

http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_MP3736

Hope to see you there!

by Dr. David C Lowery

Trichordist Picks #SXSW Panels Of Interest @ SXSW South by Southwest 2013

Here’s a quick look at what may be panels of interest during music… some because we agree with them, some because we really, really don’t… but we’d like to think we remain open minded, teachable and in search of common solutions and goals to benefit artists rights in the digital age… and, you never know what kind of BS will be peddled and spilled…

### TUESDAY MARCH 12 ###

Tuesday March 12 – 11:00AM -12:00PM

Constructive Disruption for the Music Biz

After the record industry and the live music industry, it’s time for innovation and constructively disrupting how the music industry operates. It’s time to open up the shop and see what outside influences can bring to th…

Brooke Parrott, Finian Murphy, Jim Carroll

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Tuesday March 12 – 11:00AM -12:00PM

Downloaded: The Digital Revolution

This session presented by SXSW Film and is open to all badge types. Join a round table discussion of the Digital Revolution; how we got here, how the world has changed and what are the best ways forward in these content…

Alex Winter, Chuck D, Eugene Hernandez, John Perry Barlow, Sean Parker, Shawn Fanning

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Tuesday March 12 -5:00PM – 6:00PM

Fair Play: Music Tech Startups and Artists

It’s a complicated new music world for both tech entrepreneurs and artists, one fraught with anachronistic copyright, byzantine royalty structures, and perhaps most importantly, a cultural divide between the two business…

Doug Freeman (Austin Chronicle), Daniel Senyard (Vivogig), Jean Cook (Musician/Future of Music Coalition) and Brian Zisk (SF MusicTech)

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### WEDNESDAY MARCH 13 ###

Wednesday March 13 -12:30PM – 1:30PM

The Anatomy of Amanda Fucking Palmer: An Inside Look

Look at the inner workings of a multi-million dollar global recording, touring and merchandise business that is 100% artist controlled. Amanda Palmer raised a record-breaking $1,192,793 on Kickstarter from 24,883 fans —

Kendel Ratley, Kevin Wortis, Martin Goldschmidt, Nicole St Jean, Vickie Starr, Amanda Palmer

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Wednesday March 13 – 2:00PM – 3:00PM

Artists Staying Afloat in the Digital Revenue Stream

As new business models of digital music consumption grow and new services keep launching where does the artist fit in? The headlines all scream about what the artist makes on this service or that. But does the artist hav…

Eric Garland, Jeff Price, Trevor Skeet, Scott Reilly

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Wednesday March 13 -2:00PM – 3:00PM

Music Subscription & Artist Revenue

Heated discussions in the music business surround the topic of subscription music, and the effect on the bottom line of the rights holder, artist and songwriter. One side of the aisle claim that on-demand streaming serv…
Adam Rabinovitz, Brian Slagel, Christina Calio, Dan Kruchkow, Steve Savoca, Antony Bruno

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Wednesday March 13 -5:00PM – 6:00PM

The Fight for Fair Fees in the Music Industry

Once upon a time, terrestrial radio was the only game in town and they do not pay performance royalties. With the advent of online and satellite services, we’ve amassed a patchwork of legacy policies that create a compl…

Chris Harrison, Julia Betley, Patrick Reynolds, Patrick Laird, Erin Griffith

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### THURSDAY MARCH 14 ###

Thursday March 14 -12:30PM – 1:30PM

Music Curation in 2013

As was predicted from the earliest days of the internet, curation is becoming a bigger factor in the music marketplace both on and off line. Explore the process in which specific associations and gatekeeper on the landsc…

Daniel Seligman, Johanna Rees, Ryan Schreiber, Steve Blatter, Mark Kates

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Thursday March 14 -12:30PM – 1:30PM

Silicon Valley Isn’t the Enemy Anymore

Beyond Spotify and Pandora, a new group of digital music companies are emerging. These companies are bringing together artists, content carriers and labels to create new user experiences, business models and opportunitie…

Michael Cerda, Paul Resnikoff, Phil Lang, Tyler Lenane, Mike McGuire

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Thursday March 14 -12:00PM – 3:00PM

Big Data: The New Oil or the New Snake Oil?

Mobile technologies have enabled music executives to understand as never before how people are consuming music. What people are listening to is just the tip of the iceberg – now, labels can see where they are and even wh…

David Lowery, Alex White, Jon Vanhala, Marie-Alicia Chang, Will Mills

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Thursday March 14 -3:30PM – 4:30PM

Infamous Band Disputes and How To Avoid Them

Hear about the trials, tribulations and aftermath of band warfare from defendants and plaintiffs willing to share behind-the-scenes details of their high profile legal battles with former band mates. Discover the ramific…

Anita Rivas Gisborne, Esq, East Bay Ray, Joe Escalante, Neville Johnson, Matthew Belloni

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Thursday March 14 -3:30PM – 4:30PM

The Artists’ Copyright Conundrum

Artists make difficult choices in deciding where they fall in the copyright debates. They must strike their own balance between seeing copyright as a way to make money and not wanting to alienate their fans. What measure…

Andrew Bridges, Karen Thorland, Kristelia Garcia, Wendy Seltzer, Margot Kaminski

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Thursday March 14 -5:00PM – 6:00PM

Downloaded: The Music Industry in the Digital Age

In 1998 Shawn Fanning, a teenage hacker and programmer, created the code that would become the basis for all peer-to-peer file sharing. Shortly after, Fanning and his business partner, fellow teenage hacker Sean Parker, …
Alex Winter, Bill Flanagan, Chuck D, Ian Rogers, J Keyes, Paul D Miller (aka DJ Spooky)

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Thursday March 14 -5:00PM – 6:00PM

Songs and Recordings: How They Make Money Worldwide

Songwriters, recording artists, publishers, record companies, musicians and performers share in the billions of dollars being generated from music being performed and sold worldwide. Royalty and deal making experts take …

Jeffrey Brabec, John Simson, Todd Brabec

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### FRIDAY MARCH 15 ###

Friday March 15 -11:00AM -12:00PM

Selling Albums in a Spotify World: Non-Traditional Strategies

Is the subscription music business model ultimately a positive or negative for music industry revenues, compared to the purchase model? Whichever side of the argument you land on, it’s agreed that maintaining a healthy b…
Amanda Palmer, Darius Zelkha, JT Myers, Thaddeus Rudd

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Friday March 15 – 2:00PM – 3:00PM

Album Release Strategies for the 21st Century

With all of the tools that are available via the web, artists and labels are making more mistakes than ever in the planning of their release strategies. Find out about effective, yet affordable, marketing, sales, and dis…

Adam Pollock, Joe Esposito, Rey Roldan, Sarah Landy, Vinny Rich

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Friday March 15 – 3:30PM – 4:30PM

CLE 4: Digital Distribution – Where the Future Money Is

The status of the law and business of the non-physical retail, commercial and licensing recording world.……

Bryan Calhoun, Christine Pepe, Cindy Charles, John Simson

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Friday March 15 – 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Streaming Music: A River of Cash or Up the Creek

Many artists, managers and labels see streaming as stripping away the already beleaguered retail sales and leaving them with only fractions of pennies for their work. Meanwhile streaming services believe holdout artists …

Emily White, Jon Maples, Richard Jones, Simon Wheeler

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Friday March 15 – 5:00PM – 6:00PM

Who’s Ripping Me Off Now?

In June 2012, a blog post by musician David Lowery set off a firestorm. Written to an intern at NPR who admitted to not having paid for the 11,000 tracks in her collection, the post generated more than a million views in…

David Lowery, East Bay Ray, Daryl Friedman

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### SATURDAY MARCH 16 ###

Saturday March 16 -11:00AM -12:00PM

CLE 5: The Politics of Music, and Future Copyright Battles

A dissection of the political interests and energy regarding music policies and law.……

Barry Slotnick, Colin Rushing, Lee Knife, Jay Rosenthal

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Saturday March 16 – 12:30PM – 1:30PM

So We Won SOPA: Turning a Moment into a Movement

The fight over SOPA/PIPA was a Washington watershed: 15 million Americans contacted Congress and stopped laws that would have harmed online culture and innovation. Learn how to transform this victory into a strong, self-…
Jayme White, Julie Samuels, Laurent Crenshaw, Michael Petricone

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Saturday March 16 – 3:30PM – 4:30PM

CLE 8: The Crystal Ball: Divining The Future of Music Law

Experienced music lawyers ponder, predict and pontificate on the future of music and music law.……

Kenneth Anderson, Tim Mandelbaum, Ken Abdo

###

by trichordist

Artists Rights Watch – Monday March 11, 2013 #SXSW @SXSW South by Southwest Edition

FASTER LOUDER:
* The Freeloading Generation: Are we loving our music to death?

“I saw that freeloading was no victimless act, nor was it simply a matter of beating up on bloated corporate media entities.

It is a potent combination of laziness and selfishness, concealed under a thin superficial haze of digital idealism and anti-corporate bitterness.”

NPR / ON THE MEDIA :
* Meet the New Boss, Worse Than the Old Boss

David Lowery of bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven thought the internet would become a vibrant new marketplace for creators. Instead, he says, the internet era is worse for artists than the infamously unfair record company system. Brooke talks to Lowery about what’s wrong and how to fix it.

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL:
* As Pirates Run Rampant, TV Studios Dial Up Pursuit
* Movie Sales Increased With Shutdown of Piracy Sites

THE ILLUSION OF MORE:
* New Reports on Piracy
* Another Must Read
* Why is it either/or?

we are blessed to have a society that produces both the Amanda Palmers and the John Irvings; and I don’t understand why anyone thinks we need to choose a system that would favor one over the other. Believe it or not, the one unifying principle that supports these two artists, as well as all others, is copyright.

FOX NEWS:
* Washington must get serious about protecting intellectual property

The desire to see the Internet remain free and open does not mean, however, that we should countenance lawlessness. A balance must be struck between the needs of content creators and the advocates of a free and open Internet. The “rules of the road” are still to be written and, when they are, the need to protect U.S. generated intellectual property should be foremost in the minds of legislators.

The Internet and the world of e-commerce will not continue to grow and thrive either in an environment of overbearing regulation or in one which turns a blind eye to theft and other forms of lawlessness. Freedom and safety are complementary; the American people deserve both. The Internet must not become a haven for hackers and foreign criminals.

TRUST ME I’M A SCIENTIST:
* Input\Output Podcast: David Lowery and the Future of Artists’ Rights

MUSIC TECH POLICY:
* Joe Kennedy Departs Pandora
* The Google Whistle Speaks Its Mind–and it’s worse than you thought

FOX BUSINESS:
* Microsoft Establishes Cybercrime Center to Combat Piracy, Malware

The new center will consolidate Microsoft’s digital crimes and Internet piracy units into one advanced operations center on its Redmond, Wash., campus. It will give the company one center to coordinate investigations with governments and law enforcement agencies. A staff of 30 there will work with 70 other Microsoft investigators world-wide to focus on malicious software crime, technology-facilitated child exploitation and piracy.

THE VERGE:
* Radiohead, Nine Inch Nails, and other digital pioneers sour on ‘pay what you want’ music

Not long ago, many hoped the Internet would emerge as a music fan’s Shangri-la, a utopian world where any track, no matter how obscure, was available for free, record labels were extinct and artists made a good living because their fans chose to reward them. Acts like Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails championed this brave new world.

But that dream has turned into a nightmare…

COPYHYPE:
* Shutting Down Megaupload Did Impact Digital Movie Sales

This week, Brett Danaher and Michael Smith, working at the Initiative for Digital Entertainment Analytics (IDEA) at Carnegie-Mellon University, have released another study looking at this question. The study, Gone in 60 Seconds: The Impact of the Megaupload Shutdown on Movie Sales, found that digital movie revenues from online sales and rentals increased by 6-10% following the January 2012 shutdown of the popular cyberlocker site (Megaupload execs, including Kim Dotcom, are of course currently facing criminal charges in the U.S. for copyright infringement).

ALL THINGS D:
* YouTube’s Show-Me-the-Money Problem

The bigger question is whether YouTube will be able to generate enough ad money for content makers to support the “premium” programming it has been trying to attract so it can compete with traditional TV.

“It’s hard, given YouTube’s low [revenue-sharing] numbers and lack of marketing infrastructure to make the unit economics for premium programming work,” says Steve Raymond, who runs Big Frame, a YouTube network/programmer that says it has generated 3.2 billion views.

VANITY FAIR:
* You Say You Want a Devolution?

For most of the last century, America’s cultural landscape—its fashion, art, music, design, entertainment—changed dramatically every 20 years or so. But these days, even as technological and scientific leaps have continued to revolutionize life, popular style has been stuck on repeat, consuming the past instead of creating the new.

THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER:
* Internet piracy getting worse

Artists deserve to be compensated for their efforts, and so should the companies that take risks to promote and distribute their work. Stealing songs and movies to pass among friends or to sell in a black market robs the originators of their incomes.

THE NEW YORKER:
* Aaron Swartz was brilliant and beloved. But the people who knew him best saw a darker side.

BILLBOARD:
* Pandora Opens Up Audience Data to Media Buyers
* Facebook Announces Dedicated Music Tab in News Feed Redesign

THE ORION:
* Punk legend shares insight on file-sharing

INTERNATIONAL MUSIC SOFTWARE TRADE ASSOCIATION:
* What do the numbers say?

THE REASON:
* A Free-Market Fix for Music Copyrights

DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS:
* American Tax Dollars Are Now Assisting Pirate Sites…
* I Teach Guitar to Students Aged 10-24. And This Is How They Consume Music…
* iTunes is ‘Exclusively Streaming David Bowie’s The Next Day,’ Yet It’s Already On Grooveshark…

VOX INDIE:
* Takedown of Megaupload had Positive Result on Movie Sales
* 12 Stepping Through Piracy’s Takedown Maze of Madness
* Spinning Straw Movies Into Gold on YouTube

MUSIC ALLY:
* Can YouTube’s ad revenues support premium video content?

TORRENT FREAK:
* Megaupload Shutdown Boosted Digital Movie Revenues
* French Govt Reports Large Increase in Three Strikes Piracy Warnings

THE REGISTER UK:
* Congratulations, freetards: You are THE FIVE PER CENT

Conspiratorial thinking – such as imagining media barons in secret meetings, perhaps involving the “MAFIAA” – abounds. In America, activists have created a Batman-inspired cat signal, to be beamed to other paranoiacs in distress, whenever The Man is suspected of spoiling their fun. Persecution fantasies abound.

ARS TECHNICA:
* Blues Highway Blues: You can’t separate murder from music

The soundtrack for Blues Highway Blues isn’t meant to be played as you read; there are no in-text notes about tracks fading in or out. Instead, the soundtrack corresponds to events that unfold throughout an entire chapter, making listening a parallel experience, not a simultaneous one.

But this is only the first installment in the Crossroads series, with more on the way. The next installment, Rock Island Rock, will be out in June of this year. That novel will not have its own soundtrack but instead will include lyrics sheets in the appendix (how very Beck Song Reader of him, right?). For now Blues Highway Blues is available—for your eyes and ears.

MUSIC WEEK:
* Warner signs licensing deal for Google subscription streaming services – report
* Hadopi report turns anti-piracy attention to streaming

THE COPYRIGHT ALLIANCE:
* The Curious Case of Cell Phone Unblocking and Copyright
* Innovation and Piracy

I am sure the Wall Street Journal article will generate the predictable commentary about how the solution to online theft lies in developing new business models.  Wolfe Video did just that, and the results do not bear out the claims that piracy is all about failure of imagination.  Moreover, I have yet to hear anyone explain what is innovative or new about stealing the creative work of another and monetizing it through ad sales.

CNN:
* Apple and Google’s huge streaming music gamble

YAHOO:
* Warner Music owner, Bass, Packer finance Beats’ music service

BUSINESS INSIDER:
* Apple Just Met With A Spotify Rival That Has Raised $60 Million

by trichordist

Global Music Sales Up… Three Tenths of One Percent (0.3%)… Pop The Cork… Really?

Here we go… everything is better. Problems solved. Told ya so…

It’s pretty funny to see the level of excitement on what may be a statistical flat line of global music sales. Less than one third, of one percent of a gain from year to year and you’d think people are ready to party like it’s 1999!

Not that we aren’t encouraged by what may represent the ultimate bottoming out of the industry after a decade plus decline, but a healthy dose of reality is in order. Even a net positive gain of just 3% might be cause for some celebration, but we are cautiously optimistic about a gain of only three tenths of one percent.

Stay tuned…

www.ifpi.org/content/library/DMR2013.pdf

by trichordist

A Tale of Two Petitions: Is Someone Scamming the White House Petition Site?

We have heard quite a bit about how “100,000 people have signed a White House petition!” which prompts action from the White House on a particular issue.  The implication is that the White House petition was established by an American and the response to it is reflective of the will of the people.  Meaning the American people, because it’s the American President who is being called on.  Democracy in action, right?

This emphasis on “American” is not jingoism on our part–it’s the clear implication of the petition process and is the unstated assumption of everyone discussing these petitions, and particularly of the supporters of the issue being “voted on”.  For example, Mr. Derek Khanna says he started a White House petition to “unlock” cell phones–got to love those “moral panic” narratives–and then the White House says they will support US legislation and presto chango Senator Wyden (remember him from IRFA?) and Rep. Eshoo (from Palo Alto, home to…guess who) have introduced “unlocking” legislation to make it so.  Very symmetrical.  Very.  Almost like they planned it that way.

But how did this all start?  A White House petition that was signed by 100,000 “people”.  So you would have thought that there would be some controls at the White House petition site to make sure that all this activity didn’t get started based on a false assumption–that someone had checked to see if the signers of the petition were in fact the citizens over whom the legislation will prevail.

The UK Solution

We are not the only ones who have these “e-petitions”–the UK does, too–with a few differences explained on Her Majesty’s Government’s website:

What are e-petitions?

e-petitions are an easy, personal way for you to influence government and Parliament in the UK. You can create an e-petition about anything that the government is responsible for and if it gets at least 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in the House of Commons. You can find more information about how the House of Commons deals with e-petitions on the Backbench Business Committee website This link opens in a new window

So you think, “Great, I’d like to get in on that!”  Maybe you can get the House of Commons to debate making July 4th a national holiday in the UK!  So you sign up to sign an ePetition to make the UK government do back flips on your command (and 100,000 of your favorite sock puppets).  Ah, not so fast.  The Brits did run an empire, after all.  You are confronted with this sign in:

UK Govt ePetitions

So you must be a British citizen or resident in order to sign the e-Petitions.

That actually makes sense, doesn’t it?  If a government is going to establish a petition method, shouldn’t it be limited to the people who are going to have to live under the laws it might be used to create?  We were also struck by the far, far lower vote tallies in the active UK petitions compared to the US.  Could there be a connection?

This all makes sense to us and also, more importantly, to the UK government.  If US residents or citizens want to express their views about something in the UK, there are plenty of casual polls they can game…sorry…vote in.  They don’t need access to the right to petition the UK government.  Seems like we fought a war about that once.

The White House Petition

So having established that the UK government sensibly blocks (or at least tries to block) non-residents and non-citizens from petitioning the UK government, we expected to find the same controls present in the White House petition site.  Not at all.

You do have to sign up for an account and give your email and name–a zip code is optional.  So just as a test, we signed up for an account and instead of giving a US zip code, gave the UK postal code for the Houses of Parliament in London.  That’ll surely get us rejected by the White House, right?  The UK uses letters and numbers, not related in any way to a zip code.

So here’s the petition we tried to sign up for: Designate May 20th as Macho Man Randy Savage Day

White House Petitions

So when you try to sign up, you are told to put in name and email and the optional zip code.

White House Petitions 2And here’s what happened when we signed up and got a White House petition account using the UK postal code:

White House Petitions Membership

We found this incredible, so asked friends in the UK and in Canada to try to sign up to vote for the Macho Man, fully expecting that their IP addresses would be geoblocked.  Nope–both were able to sign up and both were able to vote for Randy Savage and used UK and Canadian postal codes to do so.

So who signed Mr. Khanna’s petition?

by thetrichordist

The Wall Street Journal Reports on Ad Sponsored Piracy – Mainstream News Outlets Acknowledge Major Problem Effecting Artists And Creators

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal added it’s voice to mainstream news outlets such as The New York Times and The Los Angeles Times reporting on major brand funded ad sponsored piracy.

Another focus is online-ad networks, which media companies say help finance piracy by placing ads on sites that traffic in unauthorized content. A study last summer, commissioned in part by Google, found that 86% of peer-to-peer sharing sites are dependent on advertising for income.

NBC’s special unit said it recently discovered advertisements for Blockbuster and the U.S. Forest Service on cyberlockers that had trafficked in its content without permission. The ads had been supplied through Google’s AdSense, which places ads related to keywords.

Blockbuster said it had “policies and controls” to stop improper ad placement, but called it an “ongoing challenge.” The Ad Council, which handles ads for the Forest Service, said any time its ads ran on questionable sites, it requested that they be taken down immediately.

After a request from NBC, Google removed the ads, said NBC Universal’s Mr. Cotton.

A Google spokeswoman declined to comment on the ads but said that, as a policy, AdSense ads aren’t supposed to be displayed on sites that contain or link to copyright-infringing content. She noted that the company disables “thousands of accounts proactively, as well as at the result of requests.”

Read more here : WSJ – As Pirates Run Rampant, TV Studios Dial Up Pursuit

by trichordist

Artists Rights Watch – Monday March 4, 2013

A Weekly Review of Artists Rights, Copyright and Technology News for Creators from Around The Web.

BILLBOARD:
* ASCAP President Paul Williams, Songwriters Josh Kear, Dan Wilson Make Royalty Case to Congress

As songwriters, we need to ensure that Congress hears our side of the story as they review how digital music royalties are paid. The way it works now, songwriters are being forced to become unwitting investors in unsustainable businesses that undervalue our music.

* Inside the IFPI’s Digital Music Report 2013
* House Representatives Form Creative Rights Caucus

“A number of key Hill leaders are taking an interest in creators’ rights and we hope they will help influence new members about the importance of protecting copyright.”

MUSIC TECH POLICY:
* The Fallacy of “Incremental Revenue” Part 1
* Shocker: Ad Networks Profit from Piracy
* Thom Yorke on Google the Commoditizer
* Sharing is Caring: What is Google’s Position on Data Sharing with Artists?

THE GUARDIAN:
* Thom Yorke: ‘If I can’t enjoy this now, when do I start?’

…the band seemed like evangelists for the revolutionary possibilities of a digital world, self-releasing 2007’s In Rainbows on a pay-what-you-want download. Yorke is a bit more sceptical about all that now.

Having thought they were subverting the corporate music industry with In Rainbows, he now fears they were inadvertently playing into the hands of Apple and Google and the rest. “They have to keep commodifying things to keep the share price up, but in doing so they have made all content, including music and newspapers, worthless, in order to make their billions. And this is what we want? I still think it will be undermined in some way. It doesn’t make sense to me.

DIGITAL MUSIC NEWS:
* An Open Letter to the CEOs of Brands Advertising on Infringing Sites…
* ‘Have Music Sales Finally Hit Bottom?’ (Billboard Asks In 2004…)
* The Industry Isn’t Good at Paying Artists. So I Invented ‘Copper…’
* Citing Burdensome Royalty Costs, Pandora Caps Its Listening Hours…

THE HUFFINGTON POST:
* On Empowering Artists

It is not surprising that the companies (and their surrogates), whose business model largely consists of monetizing the stolen intellectual property of creators, are also proselytizing the virtues of “reforming” copyright. And of course it would be just these websites, ad networks, and search engines that would profit most from the types of “reforms” they suggest.

AD EXCHANGER:
* New Pressure For Networks And Exchanges To Shun Piracy Sites

“It’s difficult to advertise online at scale and not wind up on pirated content, at some point, as you’re buying through various exchange and remnant inventory sources,” Luttrell said.

DAILY PAUL:
* Libertarians Must Stand Together on Copyright

I am a passionate member of the liberty movement. But I do think many libertarians are wrong (the ones I have spoken with), when they A) Believe in market-based capitalism and principles, but B) believe all music, journalism, artistic work, and similar creative content should be “free”, no matter how much time, money, or talent went into them. This is an enormous contradiction, and many do not understand just how far the rabbit hole goes.

HYPEBOT:
* Shazam Drives $300 Million A Year In iTunes, AmazonMP3 Sales

POLITICO:
* Pandora turns up volume on royalties debate

ANDREW ORLOWSKI:
* “The price of nothing”

“All these businesses do is take something digital and reduce the value of it to the value of storage. That’s not particularly smart. Imagine, perhaps, a food market where everything cost a dollar a kilo. Suppliers would soon learn that they needed to produce at 50 cents, or find another way to do business.”

THE ATLANTIC:
* The Enduring Myth of the ‘Free’ Internet

Yes, it is certainly the case that the devices that connect us to search engines, countless websites, social media, and e-mail bring us vast amounts of content for which we do not pay separately. But access to this “free” information on the Internet, as everyone acknowledges as soon as it is pointed out, is not gratis. Monthly charges for broadband Internet service, plus cable television fees and smartphone bills that together comprise the range of household pleasures and obligations as well as work-related communication that are so embedded in our lives amount to hefty sums.

MUSIC WEEK:
* Google streaming could provide ‘biggest route to legal music consumption’

PANDO DAILY:
* What’s good for Silicon Valley might not be good for America

While Silicon Valley hasn’t directly taken away jobs from the media industry in the same way it has from the retail sector, the disruption created by Internet distribution has still resulted in declining financial performance and massive job losses in journalism, television, motion pictures, and the music industry. The tech sector will of course argue that the developments have been beneficial to consumers, but even if we accept that position without debate, it still doesn’t change the fact that a lot of people in the press, media, and entertainment industry have been hurt by Silicon Valley’s success.

TORRENT FREAK:
* U.S. Government Wins Appeal in Kim Dotcom Extradition Battle
* Cablevision Disconnects Persistent Pirates for 24 Hours
* High Court Orders UK ISPs to Block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy
* Japanese Police Arrest 27 File-Sharers in Nationwide Show of Force
* Comcast Punishes BitTorrent Pirates With Browser Hijack

by Trichordist Editor