Tag: Chris Castle

YouTube’s DMCA Abuse and Indie Labels: How Google is Blowing it for the Honest People

* * MUST READ * * From Music Tech Daily

Music Technology Policy

In a speech at Canadian Music Week, Beggars Group Chairman Martin Mills was not only right, he was prescient:

Google, the parent of YouTube, [is] one of the companies that have made billions on the back of [the DMCA notice and takedown,] a statutory provision intended to protect ordinary people acting innocently.

Google has now refined the DMCA to a tool to leverage its anticompetitive activities.  Here’s how it works.

1.  Google opens the YouTube platform to unauthorized “user generated content” and says to artists (literally in this case) “Does yuse wants to play whack a mole or make some dough?”  This is called the notice and shakedown.

2.  Google then jams a settlement down the throats of major labels and sticks it to everyone else.  Publishers are next.

3.  Google pays the lowest royalty online with a big advance to majors and spaghetti statements to everyone else that probably…

View original post 326 more words

by Trichordist Editor

The Hubris Behind Google’s Demotion of Rap Genius (Guest Post) | Billboard

by Chris Castle

Rap Genius topped any Google results for practically any lyric search string, so the site was very well-known to music fans. That enviable ranking doesn’t seem dissimilar from search results for Isohunt, the Pirate Bay or Kickass Torrents.

So what was the cardinal sin justifying Google in disappearing Rap Genius? Operating without licenses? No, certainly not that. Openly challenging the music industry? No, not that either.

It would appear Rap Genius did the one thing Google doesn’t permit — it spoke openly about beating Google at its own game. Rap Genius evidently tricked Google’s search algorithm into ranking it higher than the site should have been absent the manipulation. And for this cheeky violation of Google’s rules — not a law — the search giant demonstrated two points in one flex of its dominant muscle.

READ THE FULL STORY AT BILLBOARD:
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/digital-and-mobile/5869795/the-hubris-behind-googles-demotion-of-rap-genius-guest

by Trichordist Editor

Intelligentsia Round-Up | Music Intelligentsia

New blog Music Intelligentsia digs into Music, Politics, Innovation. Dig In!

Fair Use by Google Books? Fair Use by GoldieBlox? Is copyright law being turned on its already-spinning head? Music Intelligentsia presents the commentary of 10 highly regarded experts regarding this important and controversial issue.

For quick reference, please use the links below to go directly to a particular commentary.

READ THE FULL POST AT MUSIC INTELLIGENTSIA:
http://musicintelligentsia.com/intelligentsia-round-up/

by trichordist

Meet the Free Market Royalty Act, an Elegant Solution to Some Complex Issues | Billboard

This guest post at Billboard is a great overview for understanding the “Free Market Royalty Act.”

Representative Mel Watt (D-NC-12) has introduced the Free Market Royalty Act (H.R. 3219), one of the most intriguing royalty proposals in years. The bill accomplishes two principal goals: Watt starts the process of getting the government out of the music business by eliminating the compulsory license for digital audio transmissions, and extends the sound recording public performance right to all audio performances.

Here’s why this is a productive solution to a knotty problem.

READ THE FULL POST AT BILLBOARD:
http://www.billboard.com/biz/articles/news/legal-and-management/5740706/guest-post-meet-the-free-market-royalty-act-an

by trichordist