MP3 Aggregators, The Law And You
Chances are you're one of many who get their Elbo.ws dirty from time to time. Join the club. Well the law's long arm is reaching out to just such search engines, trying to keep you from finding those MP3 posts you hold so dear.
A Dutch court just shut down a website that linked to MP3 posts across the web. Zoekmp3.nl didn't host the files, and claimed that it "warned users not to breach copyright." But the court wasn't having it. BBC reports (via Coolfer):
"Such a warning ignores the reality that the lion's share of visitors are looking for unauthorised MP3 files," said the court in its ruling on Friday.
Who, us? And just when G2P launched! But the precedent may be set kids. Get your Hype on while you can. The demise of MP3 aggregators: Good thing? Or downfall of the blogosphere? You make the call.
Posted at 11:58 AM
Damn, you just knew this was coming.
On the positive side, small (i.e., easily swappable/tradeable) and inexpensive mass storage 50GB and up, up, up is right around the corner. Unless the industry is able to move quickly to a foolproof watermarking system of some kind, swapping large libraries of music files could easily dwarf the P2P problems of today for the RIAA.
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yup, just like i said in the original comment on coolfer. it will happen. and it will suck.
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fuck. this sucks.
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it'll probably cut down on everyone and their mom having a blog though
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I seem to be the only person out here who doesn't want to steal music.
If the artists want you to have their music for free, they can put it on their website, myspace, or whatever.
Otherwise, you should pay the 99 cents. Is that so much to ask?
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Dirty Lenin - A lot of the music blogs post free tracks given by the artists in order to promote their new album, tour, etc.. It has become a great promotional tool that has been responsible for (enhancing) the popularity of The Arctic Monkeys, Lily Allen, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and more.. There are a few bad eggs out there posting illegal tracks or, even worse, entire albums, but they aren't the norm and shouldn't tarnish the image of legit mp3 blogs.
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I don't really think this is that big of a deal. The people who are going out and searching for all of these songs the entire day are the people who are doing it for the free music. If you are honestly interested in finding new, good music - take the time to visit a few good blogs daily, buy the album if you like it, and move the fuck on.
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Yeah, the aggregators will be good as gone. It's just a matter of time. But they won't be able to stop bloggers at all.
What about using things like Google blog-search? It's just as easy to find mp3's off there.
It's like fighting terrorism. In other words, "piracy" will never end.
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The industry could always go back to pressing vinyl records :) Bottom line is that when technology changes then people have to adapt. Just because someone downloads a song and listens to it, doesn't mean that they would have gone out and bought it. The great thing about the web is that you can go out and discover stuff you hadnt heard before. The web allows bands who would never get heard anywhere a shot.
I find it ironic that I can listen to someone on the radio announce some band or song and that I can legally listend to it and record it if I want, but if i do the same thing on the web people leap up and say its piracy. Well, I dont think so. The difference is that the recording industry established a business model on the radio, but despite the growth of the internet, they havent taken the time to establish a business model for the web. You certainly can't blame that on the consumers.
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G2p.org sucks. Try using it.
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So was Zoekmp3.nl more of like a "warez" site for music?
Complete with spammy popups, spyware and etc? In which case...
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Downfall of the blogosphere? No.
Would the end of aggregators make people more likely to post stuff they actually like rather than stuff they think will get them traffic? I think so.
The question is where the line should be drawn between legit and non-legit mp3 blogs. To be honest I've never had any trouble getting permission for the stuff I want to post. And there's no excuse for posting entire albums.
Luckily, we're always one step ahead but I expect a clampdown / increase in C+D letters in the coming months.
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Dammit, just when I started up my new blog.
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The music industry is such a bunch of retards. Sites like this and other "MP3 aggregators" have led to me BUYING far more music than I ever would have without them. These sites are the reason I've discovered bands like The Shins, the New Pornographers, Badly Drawn Boy, the Kooks, the Arctic Monkeys...the list goes on and on and on. Sure, I may download free tracks, but if I like it, I'll go buy the CD. MORONS.
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What if the real story about piracy/mp3s/digital music/etc. is that the days of giant hits and huge revenues from selling recorded music are over? Artists will still make some money in records, but the real money is made touring, and not every band tours well (because they suck, or are a studio construct).
This will lead to artists honing their chops on the road and have to prove themselves in front of audiences to survive. Kinda like bringing it back old school to the days of traveling entertainers (mid ages style). They traveled and entertained in different locations and their stories (or music) would be remembered or passed along by others (in this case - blogs).
I think this means recorded music becomes a commodity and involves the dismantling of an industry revolving around buying and selling albums. With loss-leaders like Best Buy, et al, selling music under cost isn't this already happening? Hmm...maybe I'll blog about it!
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Everyone seems to be missing the point that the ARTISTS should get to decide how their music is given to the world.
The radio is not the same as the internet. Bands get paid when their songs play on the radio.
If a band wants their music to be free, great. But the BAND should be making that choice.
And while, yes, blogs like this one lead to a lot of CD sales. I know a lot of people with a lot of free shit on their Ipod who never plan to pay for anything. It works both ways.
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DudeAsInCool, the reason you can record something off the radio is that people who liked to tape things off the radio got Congress to write a special exception to the copyright laws for taping things off the radio. (Arguably, it falls under fair use, too, but there _is_ a special provision for it.) So write your Congressman: "I heart Stereogum--let mp3 blogging free."
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Searching for Thom Yorke at elbo.ws yields:
Unfortunately, we've been notified that simply
searching for posts about new Thom Yorke album
is a crime, so we've been forced to remove the
links to the blogs that reviewed and praised the
work of this artist. We apologize for any
inconvenience.
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Uh, hold the f up. A "Dutch court" (not a slam agains the Dutch, who I hold over most nations/nationalities on earth--and yes, Netherlands is slightly more correct) finds against something, and the end is almost immediate for all mp3 agg sites? I like this site, but do you have even the faintest idea how much furreyn legal rulings drive the even uglier US machine? Eh, IANAL, but not much is a safe bet. Being cynical, I understand the whole song sample thing is too good to last, but this is just slightly alarmist.
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That wasn't being IANAL, SBYFK, that was a fair question.
The point wasn't to say the end is imminent. But the door is certainly open, and the ruling noteworthy.
As for the relative authority of foreign law, there are many fields (cyberlaw being one) in which the case law is so unclear, the precedents so vague and analogies so abstract, that domestic courts will look to foreign jurisdictions for guidance. In these instances, U.S. courts will often cite foreign opinions as persuasive authority (a perfectly legitimate element of stare decisis, the fundamental component of the Anglo-American legal system).
Though no foreign judgment could ever be controlling as precedent, it may absolutely be invoked as persuasive by parties arguing their points. Or by courts justifying their decisions.
To that end, yes, the Dutch court's holding is relevant and probably worthy of discussion. Not intended to be alarmist! Hence the "But the precedent *may* be set..." Hope that helps.
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Amrit, are you a lawyer?
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FREE ELBOWS
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I had a feeling people would catch on pretty quickly
http://www.musictimes.com.au
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If more bloggers behaved responsibly, and got permission before they post, this wouldn't be an issue.
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I'm a fan of elbows/hype but I do think it's a problem that you can search for these tracks. I wonder if this does become a problem if those two can just remove the search function. I also think both sites could/should do a better job of regulating the blogs they accept. An obvious piracy site like Reagnyouth should never have been added to their service
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so if they cut hype machine, etc, will they also cut google blog search, because you can use that to search for mp3's too? seriously, this is ridiculous.
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I'm with SBYFK--I'll wait to start writing music blog obits when there's actually a ruling in an American court.
I've been to Amsterdam and I love it over there, but I don't think their courts hold much authority over my activities here. I'd say the same thing about this ruling from any other country too.
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poor analogy michael. drugs = well settled law. internet law = up for grabs.
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The aggregators are fine and useful for pure downloading purposes, but I feel like they've probably had a pretty detrimental effect on blogging in a general sense. They over-accentuate the file over the content ass'd with it, and have led to a point where people are starting blogs based on elbo.ws and especially the hype machine (which, well, has rankings right there) as some sort of popularity gauge. I mean, people don't typically go to either aggregator to find interesting reviews or articles. They're looking for the files attached to the posts. Reading is secondary. Readers aren't traffic gained from aggregators, but quick downloaders are. I have a curatorial impulse for my blog, in which I want people to listen as they read and love it or hate it, but at least have read something hopefully interesting. Aggregators encourage, well, aggregation. Like digging the prize out of the cereal box. Anyone with flashy mp3s will get traffic thanks to them, rendering the statistic itself rather skewed and helping to portray mp3 blogging as another file-sharing network.
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There have been many times when I've read about a song or an artist on a blog -or heard a recommendation by word of mouth- but does not offer an mp3. Shocking, I know, but I do it too.
The only way for me to hear a sample is elbows or hype machine.
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Or myspace, Yeti. Or the band's site.
Completely agree with Marathonpacks. I recently got added to Hype and, while traffic stats jump, time stats plummet. People are obviously using it as a free iTunes.
It'd be so much better for all if we could just stream music. It's an honest way to sample stuff before buying. And that Hype Machine Player is like the world's best all-request radio station.
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The dutch decision isn't noteworthy so much for its precedential value on any upcoming U.S. litigation (no need here to get into the details of persuasive authority versus binding precedent in U.S. courts and where foreign decisions fit in - i.e., they're not typically binding precedent except in very unusual circumstances), but rather as a tip off to where the RIAA might turn next in its fight against alleged piracy.
Have I downloaded some tracks via Hype without spending much time reading the related blog. Sure. But, I've discovered through Hype a good dozen or so blogs that I now regularly read. And the tracks I've downloaded without reading the related blog, I never would have purchased. Lordi, I'm talking 'bout you.
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The dutch decision isn't noteworthy so much for its precedential value on any upcoming U.S. litigation (no need here to get into the details of persuasive authority versus binding precedent in U.S. courts and where foreign decisions fit in - i.e., they're not typically binding precedent except in very unusual circumstances), but rather as a tip off to where the RIAA might turn next in its fight against alleged piracy. It's safe to assume, I believe, that RIAA attorneys have researched the legality of Hype and elbo.ws, prepared memos for the RIAA decisionmakers, and probably have at least begun prepping a lawsuit in the event the RIAA decides to pull the trigger on litigation. And it's also safe to assume that the RIAA is weighing the promotional benefits versus their view of the piracy cost, as well as the good versus bad publicity aspects of bringing suit. When all is said and done, I'd be shocked if at some point they do not move against Hype and elbo.ws in their current form - though that decision may get pushed off for quite some time.
Have I downloaded some tracks via Hype without spending much time reading the related blog. Sure. But, I've discovered through Hype a good dozen or so blogs that I now regularly read. And the tracks I've downloaded without reading the related blog, I never would have purchased. Lordi, I'm talking 'bout you.
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The dutch decision isn't noteworthy so much for its precedential value on any upcoming U.S. litigation (no need here to get into the details of persuasive authority versus binding precedent in U.S. courts and where foreign decisions fit in - i.e., they're not typically binding precedent except in very unusual circumstances), but rather as a tip off to where the RIAA might turn next in its fight against alleged piracy. It's safe to assume, I believe, that RIAA attorneys have researched the legality of Hype and elbo.ws, prepared memos for the RIAA decisionmakers, and probably have at least begun prepping a lawsuit in the event the RIAA decides to pull the trigger on litigation. And it's also safe to assume that the RIAA is weighing the promotional benefits versus their view of the piracy cost, as well as the good versus bad publicity aspects of bringing suit. When all is said and done, I'd be shocked if at some point they do not move against Hype and elbo.ws in their current form - though that decision may get pushed off for quite some time.
Would I download some tracks via Hype without spending much time reading the related blog. Sure. But, I've discovered through Hype a good dozen or so blogs that I now regularly read. And the tracks I've considered downloading without reading the related blog, I never would have purchased. Lordi, I'm talking 'bout you.
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Hi,
Hope this post is ok. If not feel free to delete it.
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It will give you an idea about what we do.
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iJAmr Radio seeks DJs in ANY language.
As for ourselves, we speak French and Spanish
Daniel Nicolas
www.iJamr.com
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We've launched an mp3 blog aggregator called Grabb.it, because we love music and as musicians we wanted the best way to get the fruits of our labor out to fans. Record labels are starting to come around to the value of mp3 blogs, so I doubt legal threats against sites like Grabb.it are serious. If artists or labels don't want to be on the internet, we're happy to accommodate them, but in 2007 who really wants that fate?
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Hey don't forget TasteStalkr. They might be the next big mp3 blog aggregator.
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