Tag Archive for 'Boing Boing'

The Major Record Labels are Collapsing

Published on November 14, 2007 in Blog. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Spotted on: BoingBoing

The original article was in TheWeekDaily.com

I suggest you read the whole article yourself.? Here are a few of my favorite quotes, along with a bit of snappy patter:
“Ringtones, in fact, are now the fastest-growing source of music-industry revenue. “I find myself, when I’m signing a record deal now, asking, ‘Can this sell as a ringtone?’” said Steve Rifkind, president of SRC, a label affiliated with Universal.” - I’ll know I’ve made it when I’m #1 on Nokias…

“…seven years ago—an album would have to sell about 500,000 copies to reach No. 1. But Johnny Cash’s posthumous release last June reached the top of the Billboard charts after selling only 88,000 copies.” - The business model of major labels fails under these conditions.? Great news for indie labels though.

“The industry seems to have devoted most of its energy to largely futile efforts to prevent illegal downloading…big companies hunting and suing single moms and students has been a public-relations disaster. ”? - Is there anyone who doesn’t see this?

“The record industry has to find new ways of making money that do not depend on selling CDs for $16 apiece…the companies are devoting more resources to parts of the business that just a few years ago were mere afterthoughts or that didn’t even exist… some record-industry visionaries say the future won’t have much to do with making physical “records” at all.”? -? They knew all this ten years ago.

With every passing day, we see the continuing deterioration of the old guard.? The question becomes:? How will musicians make a living in the post major label environment?

The 5 Truths of Blogging

Published on August 3, 2006 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

The five immutable truths about the blogging vs. journalism debate, according to Kottke:

1. Mainstream, top-down, professional journalism will continue to play a vital role in covering news events, and in shaping our interpretation of those events, as it should.

2. Bloggers will grow increasingly adept at covering certain kinds of news events, but not all. They will play an increasingly important role in the interpretation of all kinds of news.

3. The majority of bloggers won’t be concerned with traditional news at all.

4. Professional, edited journalism will have a much higher signal-to-noise ratio than blogging; examples of sloppy, offensive, factually incorrect, or tedious writing will be abundant in the blogosphere. But diamonds in that rough will be abundant as well.

5. Blogs — like all modes of contemporary media — are not historically unique; they draw upon and resemble a number of past traditions and forms, depending on their focus.

spotted on boing boing
originally published on dr.xnlb.com

Frequently Awkward Questions for the Entertainment Industry

Published on July 14, 2006 in Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

Music

  1. The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 music fans for file sharing, yet file sharing continues to rapidly increase both online and offline.? When will you stop suing music fans?
  2. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing, who have on average paid a $3,750 settlement.? That’s over $75,000,000.? Has any money collected from your lawsuits gone to pay actual artists? Where’s all that money going?
  3. The RIAA has sued over 20,000 music fans for file sharing.? Recently, an RIAA representative reportedly suggested that “students drop out of college or go to community college in order to be able to afford [P2P lawsuit] settlements.” Do you stand by this advice? Is this really good advice for our children’s futures?
  4. The RIAA said that it only went after individual file sharers because you couldn’t go after P2P system creators. After the Supreme Court’s Grokster decision, shouldn’t you stop going after music fans?
  5. Major entertainment companies have repeatedly brought lawsuits to block new technologies, including the VCR, Digital Audio Tape recorders, the first MP3 player, the ReplayTV PVR, and now P2P software. Why is your industry so hostile to new technologies?
  6. DRM has clearly failed to stop songs from getting on file sharing networks, but it does prevent me from moving lawfully purchased music onto my iPod and other portable devices.? Unlike the major record labels, many popular indie labels offer mp3 downloads through sites like eMusic.? Why won’t you let fans purchase mp3s as well?
  7. The RIAA says that it doesn’t mind if I rip CDs to my personal computer and put them on my iPod.? Do I need your permission to do this or can I legally do it even if you object?
  8. Recording off the radio is clearly permitted by copyright law and something Americans have done for over 25 years, but the RIAA supports legislation restricting devices that record from digital radio. Why are you against TiVo for radio?
  9. Sony BMG recently implemented a DRM technology that damaged users’ computers.? But for independent researchers’ analyses, this serious flaw may have gone undiscovered. After this scandal, will record labels allow any computer scientist or security expert to examine these products and agree not to sue them under the DMCA?

Video

  1. The major movie studios have been enjoying some of their most profitable years in history over the past five years. Can you cite to any specific studies that prove noncommercial file sharing among fans, as opposed to commercial DVD piracy, has hurt the studios’ bottom line in any significant way?
  2. Is it legal for me to bypass CSS DVD encryption in order to skip the “unskippable” previews at the beginning of so many DVDs? Why should I have to be forced to watch these ads when I already bought the DVD?
  3. Is it legal for me to skip the commercials when I play back time-shifted TV recordings on my TiVo or other PVR? How is this different than getting up and going to the bathroom?
  4. Why are there region-code restrictions on DVDs? How does this prevent copyright infringement? Is it illegal for me to buy or and use a region-free DVD player, or to modify a DVD player to be region-free?
  5. In several lawsuits, the MPAA has repeatedly said that it’s illegal to make a back-up of a DVD that I purchased.? Why is this illegal?
  6. Is it ever legal for me to use software like DVD Shrink or Handbrake to rip a digital copy of a DVD I own onto a video iPod or my laptop? What if I want clips to use for a class report? Or if a teacher wants to include a clip in a PowerPoint slide?
  7. Is there anything illegal about copying TV shows I’ve recorded off the air onto my video iPod?
  8. If the MPAA-backed “broadcast flag” bill passes, I won’t be able to move recorded TV content digitally to my current video iPod.? Why should TV studios get to take away my ability to lawfully time- and space-shift?
  9. Major entertainment companies have repeatedly brought lawsuits to block new technologies, including the VCR, Digital Audio Tape recorders, the first MP3 player, the ReplayTV PVR, and now P2P software. Why is your industry so hostile to new technologies?
  10. Hollywood is pushing legislation to “plug the analog hole.” These restrictions won’t keep copyrighted video off of file sharing networks, but they will block me from excerpting a recorded TV show for a school report or using tools like the Slingbox to send recorded TV shows to myself over the Internet.? Why are you trying to restrict these legitimae uses?

Questions posed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Reprinted with permission. Spotted on Boing Boing and Digg.

NO Bits for you!

Published on July 13, 2006 in Article and Blog. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , .

What is this world coming to?
It seems that the idea of innocent until proven guilty is one tenant of freedom we can cross off our personal liberties list.
The British Phonographic Industry (BPI, not to be confused with the British Pornographic Industry) has begun to lobby for a new tactic in dealing with internet pirates. BPI has sent two letters to different broadband ISPs in the UK to terminate the DSL service of customers that BPI has identified as copyright thieves. Instead of the standard, Cease & Desist action that allows anyone (read: any corporation) to censor any web site by accusing them of copyright infringement, the BPI would like to be able to shut down the internet connections of anyone they deem unworthy of using it because of alleged illegal activity.
It makes me sick to my stomach to even type this.
These are the same tactics the Church of Scientology uses when protecting their cash cow from detractors. Diebold used it against IndyMedia to keep critical facts about the defects in their voting machines from reaching the public. Earth to BPI: Is this really the company you want to keep?!
Copyrights are intended to protect creative expression. Corporations keep thinking that their concerns over their failing business models give them the right to trample our rights to free speech, and now due process in the court of law. Why bother having to spend money on expensive lawyers and lawsuits to prove their cases, with evidence mind you, in a court of law and to a judge, when you can just accuse someone and have them silenced and taken off the internet completely?
The Cease & Desist policy (also known as notice and takedown) is at the heart of the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act). The BPI is attempting to get the United Nations to adopt the new thinking, Notice and Termination, and make it a part of global policy (the C&D policy started with UN and was adopted by the US as the DMCA; a similar law has been adopted by the European Union).
There are more chilling facts to this story, but I can barely stand to even repeat them right now. I think it’s time for Polyvibe to up it’s contribution to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
originally published on dr.xnlb.com

Alternative to UPC?

Published on June 20, 2006 in Uncategorized. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , .

A new alternative to UPCs has begun to emerge. Where UPC is a closed and regulated system you must by access to, ThingLink, is an open network to identify products. Register with the site, and you can start entering details of your “things” to generate a unique ThingLink code. Intended primarily for “makers” of “things”, this is a low impact tracking system for anything you register with the site.

While it will probably never supplant UPC entirely (or even at all), due to it’s ubiquitous nature, and entire industries and retail outlets already employing Barcode scanners for inventory and checkout procedures, ThingLink is a great idea, and a free alternative to the UPC system. The service will appeal more to artists and artisans that are making limited run items and still want a way for people to find out more about them later.

As an experiment, I’ve registered Polyvibe Records’ first two releases with the site (which seems to be a bit buggy at the moment):

  • Future Funk Collective – Future Funk Collective
  • ? Thing:105ENN
  • A_Scissors – Flux Decapitator
  • ? Thing:742GEM

While the actual releases won’t be labeled with their ThingLinks, future releases might. We’ll still have to register UPCs, as they are required by our distributors, and I don’t expect them to adopt the ThingLink system anytime soon. But there might be some value in registering each release with both Systems. However, if you don’t put a UPC symbol on your stuff, due to cost or other reasons, ThingLink is definitely the way to go.

Spotted on Boing Boing

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