Rightscorp and BMG Exploiting Copyright Notice-and-Notice System

Interesting article from Michael Geist

Downloading Ethics

Check out my friend Ian's masters survey about the ethics of downloading media content.

I helped out on set by pointing microphones at people.

Battle looming over termination rights

Interesting article about termination rights...

“When copyright law was revised in the mid-1970s, musicians, like creators of other works of art, were granted “termination rights,” which allow them to regain control of their work after 35 years, so long as they apply at least two years in advance. Recordings from 1978 are the first to fall under the purview of the law, but in a matter of months, hits from 1979, like “The Long Run” by the Eagles and “Bad Girls” by Donna Summer, will be in the same situation — and then, as the calendar advances, every other master recording once it reaches the 35-year mark.”

In the next few years, the rights to some of the biggest selling albums of all time will revert back to the songwriters... not a promising thought for the major labels.

Copyright history of the birthday song

You Say It's Your Birthday

[via Daily Swarm]

The future of Canadian digital policies

Surprisingly optimistic column from Prof. Michael Geist here.

While there will undoubtedly be wins and losses, the majority offers the opportunity to move away from years of policies driven by politics where little actually becomes law to one driven by policy that results in true legal reform. Given the last seven years of minority Liberal and Conservative governments that achieved so little on digital policies, the chance to get something done probably represents the biggest change of all.

Interesting article on the future of radio in Canada

My friend Adam sends me this link: Audio column: Why are Canadians stuck in an AM/FM world?

News came out the other day that one of the most popular worldwide music streaming sources, Pandora, has put its plans to expand into Canada on hold. That’s because the royalty rates we’re demanding “are astronomical,” according to Tim Westergren, who founded the California-based music service.

It also features a choice quote from industry stooge Graham Henderson, president of the Canadian Recording Industry Association:

[He] cited widespread illegal music downloading in Canada as the real reason why services like Pandora wouldn’t want to come here. “Why would you spend a lot of money trying to build a service in Canada when Canadians take so much without paying for it?” he said.

I'm pretty tired of hearing this argument... if anything the Canadian music industry has weathered the digital storm and ensuing cloud pretty well, as the article mentions later, in regards to CBC Radio 3. Might I also mention the wonderful Polaris Prize?

"Old" media is changing, as is "new" media... 100 years from now people will laugh at the brief period in human history where music was commodified in a absurd fashion for 50 years. To oversimplify an extremely complex argument, the music/audio/radio industry has to adapt.

Pachelbel Rant

I was searching YouTube for classical music and came across this gem:



I'm not one of the 8 million people who've seen this one before... glad I saw it though.

Kinda reminds me of this one:



I might send a link to this post to the guys drawing up Canada's new copyright laws.

Yep, we're fucked

PMO Issues The Order: Canadian DMCA Bill Within Six Weeks

So long, entertainment. Nice to know you.

Copyright Cuckoos

Access Copyright tells Canadian gov't: no home TV recording, no ripping music, no moving old ebooks to new readers [boingboing]

RIAA = still jerks

And the witch hunts continue... here's a couple articles my Dad sent me this weekend. He and I are both big music fans and are somewhat alarmed with these absolutely insane trials that are going on.

Student ordered to pay $675,000 US in downloading case

RIAA Seeks Up to $150,000 a Song in File Sharing Trial

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From the Canadian side, the government has opened a consultation website for the forthcoming re-writing of the copyright laws. Let's get a few letters in there and make sure this doesn't become the Canadian DMCA.

Other required reading: Michael Geist

Black Eyed Peas: Rip off artists

UPDATE: Did Black Eyed Peas Steal Freeland's 'Mancry'?

RIAA = jerks

My dad sent me these couple of articles about the another ruling against Jammie Thomas:

Jury rules against Minn. woman in download case

Analysis: $1.92M fine in music piracy case could hurt RIAA

Just goes to show that these evil fucks are willing run their entire business model into the ground, and take innocent people with them...

Pirates = Purchasers

BitTorrent users spend money, too

" * They buy 34% more movie tickets, purchase 34% more DVDs and rent 24% more movies than the average Internet user.
* They tend to have more and better equipment for consuming media, including home theaters and expensive computers with large screens.
* They spend less time watching TV, more online, and far more watching downloaded or streaming video.
* They're not only early adopters, they're more likely to share their opinions online, and with more people."

Performance Rights Bill explained

Here's an interesting article about a piece of artist rights legislation being considered by the U.S.

Inside the Performance Rights Act, And Deciding Who Gets Paid on the Radio

"The Performance Rights Act is a bill before the US Congress that would require terrestrial radio stations to pay royalties to the performer of a track... Aside from the issue of “fairness,” the United States is one of the few countries that does not require payment to the performing artist when her track is played on the radio."

Girl Talk: Now stealing business plans

Greg Gillis, aka Girl Talk, just released his new album Feed The Animals in the same way Radiohead released their last album. Pay What You Can.

As much as I love this new trend, the whole thing feels like amateur night at the Pig and Whistle. And what's the other saying? Oh yeah, you get what you pay for.

No Nine Inch Nails multi-track files were used in the making of the album. That would be too easy.

Here's the Mr. Gillis pulling the intellectual property equivalent of a bank robbery (according to Jim Prentice, anyway):



Thanks to Adam for the heads up on this one.

New copyright law: links do the talking

boing boing
CBC
Toronto Star
National Post

Complete with the usual spin & accompanying ideology-specific photos!

I'm a weirdo

I will always defend the greatness of Prince, despite (and perhaps because of) all his eccentricities, but the Purple One should put down The Watchtower and pick up a copy of Wired.

That whole thing about suing YouTube and its users for posting his intellectual property was pretty bad, but now he's taking the time out of his busy schedule of purifying himself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka to block his performances of other people's songs... Namely, Radiohead's "Creep", which he added to his live repertoire at this year's Coachella, ostensibly to endear himself to the festival's young audience.

According to this article from Billboard, "Thom Yorke said he heard about Prince's performance from a text message and thought it was "hilarious."

Intrepid YouTube users continue to post the video, so here's the infamous performance at Coachella. The video totally sucks but the audio is actually not that bad for a bootleg.

Maybe if the artist formerly known as the Artist Formerly Known as Prince would cool it with the legal action he could stick to what he does best, playing the fuck out of the guitar... which is what he's stopping people from seeing. Doesn't make much sense to me.

Free bird

It was Free Comic Book Day Saturday, and here on Monday, it's Free Album day.

Yes, all the hype is true, Nine Inch Nails dropped a very free yet unnecessary album to the utter delight of fans today. Only a few tracks short of a yawn-fest, things don't really start cooking until the third track, "Letting You", by far the most interesting thing on the album. The track is a continuation of the thread along the "Wish"-"March of the Pigs"-"Starfuckers"-"You Know What You Are" line. Mr. Reznor also goes into the old bag of tricks for a "Pinion" re-write to lead off the disc... wait, it's not a disc yet. That'll be in July. It's also his shortest major release since Broken.

Perhaps having Trent Reznor loose without a label isn't such a good thing. I think this whole adventure could have been more successful simply as an EP of strictly the electronic driven stuff, leaving out the painfully pedestrian "Discipline" and "Echoplex", both of which are getting radio airplay for some reason. The shortness of the EP format, mixed with the experimental (for him) nature of the music would provide a perfect jumping off point for whatever his little heart wants to do next. Just like Ghosts I-IV, this album is more interesting in terms of its delivery and distribution than on the merit of the music itself.

but let's hope the final three tracks on the album, beginning with the wicked-cool and tripped out "Corona Radiata", symbolize the rebirth of a star. Otherwise, this is simply a black hole.

Like they say, you get what you pay for.

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Suggested Playlist: The Slip EP

"Letting You"
"Head Down"
"Lights in the Sky"
"Corona Radiata"
"The Four of Us are Dying"
"Demon Seed"

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Haha... "Demon Seed", like "Discipline" are songs that sound like would-be b-sides of his from the early 90s. I'm reminded of the Beastie Boys' To the 5 Boroughs from a couple years back. The group took the same sort back-to-basics approach to scrape the bottom of the well, and since then have ostensibly quit the rap game.

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The great thing about being Trent Reznor is having your very own personal Weird Al. The dark prince himself seems to have come to terms with it too, embedding this very video on the official page days after its release.

Remember: Piracy funds terrorism

Here's an interesting article about a lil controversy involving Toronto band Crystal Castles, as drawn to my attention by Pitchfork:

Torontoist: Untrust Us

Crimson Ping

Halo 26, aka "Ghosts Vol. I-IV" is a step towards what albums will look like in the future. The evil, fist-fucking crossover virus once known as Nine Inch Nails has mutated into something far more deadly.

The album, released under Creative Commons, forces the listener to pick up the scattered pieces and somehow stitch them together, whether it's re-arranging the multitrack files to create your own remix, or just putting all the sleepy-time songs on the same mixtape. Musically, it's a chaotic mix of every slice of NIN thus far, plus a wide range of instruments never before heard on one of Mr. Reznor's albums. If I didn't know any better, which I do, I'd say Trent is slyly setting himself up for a trip into prog territory... timpani? real bells? Adrian Belew even returns to the fold for a few tracks. You heard it here first! Maybe NIN will take King Crimson along for their recently announced tour...

Links:

Ghosts review [TinyMixTapes]

Meathead Perspective (A hilarious, satirical take on NIN)