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RIAA Chief Wants to Put Filters On Every PC and Network
Spotted On: ArsTechnica
The RIAA’s head, Cary Sherman, wants to put encryption on our computer that will force us to decrypt music before listening to it. In other words, the filter will scan all your incoming data and then either allow or deny your ability to listen to it. since this idea likely won’t be popular (who’s going to willingly put a filter on their computer that blocks the files they are downloading?), the next suggestion is to put the filters in our modems.
Despite the predictable public backlash against these tactics (in an environment where the RIAA already has public approval that rivals the US Congress), some ISPs are moving ahead with these filters. The technical specifics are a bit thick, suffice it to say that various file encryptions can bypass these filters unless entire protocols are blocked.
Here’s a video of Mr. Sherman lauding the glories of filtering:
Bottom Line: Being out of touch with your consumers’ needs does not improve your financial picture, or your credibility.
Happy Birthday, Bob!
Today is Bob Marley’s birthday (in my opinion, an international holiday).
in celebration of the birth of one of the most influential and incredible musicians of our time, here are some videos of Bob.
If you want to honor Bob’s memory today, stand for something you believe in.
A couple of interviews, speaking about music, rasta, and oppression:
Africa Unite - Live - Bob was a true freedom fighter.
Roots Rock Reggae - Originally broadcast on TV. Dig the I-Threes!
Bob Playing Soccer in Paris, 1977 (Bob loved soccer)
And finally, Bob speaking about ganja and prohibition
Frank Zappa on the Music Business
Spotted on: Youtube
Who woulda believed that a 20 year old video would provide such great wisdom about music today?
The first half of the video is on the music business. The second half is a tirade about sex.
Had he mentioned drugs, we’d have the holy trinity of music.
If Content is King, Who Gets the Treasury?
Spotted on: Digital Music News
Universal Music filed a lawsuit against MySpace at the end of the day on Friday. The lawsuit claims that Myspace is allowing their users to violate copyrights, in order to make a profit off of it. The suit also claims that MySpace encouraged copyright infingement. The suit even goes as far as suggesting that MySpace owes their success to using this same material.
Myspace asserts that they are in full compliance with the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which protects web sites from the copyright vilations of their users, as long as they act fast when a rights-holder complains. Not to mention the fact that Myspace is a social networking site. The same thing accusations were thrown at YouTube shortly before they signed a deal with some of these major rights holders.
All links and cross-references aside, MySpace, YouTube, and even Universal are owned by huge corporations. The thing I find most interesting about the lawsuit is the part that says “UMG owns copyrights in thousands of sound recordings, including many of the most popular and well-known sound recordings in the world.”
So the SOAP opera continues, and somehow, the more I read, the less it all makes sense, or even seems to matter. How can a few dozen companies appear to own all of this fantastic music, movies and TV shows, and pass back and forth billions of dollars? Perhaps the real question to be asked is how just a few companies can own and make all the money off of this huge catalog of popular art.
Art, and especially music, are powerful because of the emotions they evoke, and have different values to different people. As the value of music continues to tank, these major music companies seem to striking more and more deals where major media corporations and websites are paying huge lumps of sum to each other. Money flows from Google to YouTube to Sony BMG to Viacom and around and around. Where exactly are the rest of us in all of this? Where is all this money going? If Universal won $400 million dollars from MySpace, how much would they pay to the artists?
To put it more simply, huge amounts of these catalogs were created by people who have left this world, or who are getting pennies out of billions of dollars that changes hands. The day of the post-major label is finally dawning. The age of the distributor. Long Live D.I.Y.
