Google recently decided to close 6 popular MP3 music blogs due to copyright infringement. As the dust settles on this, I thought I'd chuck in my two pence worth:
I have received a few
DMCA notifications from Blogger, here's part of one if you haven't had the pleasure:
"Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (
DMCA), that certain content in your blog is alleged to infringe upon the copyrights of others. As a result, we have reset the post(s) to "draft" status. (If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.) This means your post - and any images, links or other content - is not gone. You may edit the post to remove the offending content and republish, at which point the post in question will be visible to your readers again.'
Wonderfully vague ain't it? My standard response has been to email back and enquire which part of the post they are specifically referring too (I often put up two or more songs in a post). Their standard response is to not reply & delete the post anyway.
In two and a half years of blogging I have received a dozen requests to take down tracks from labels & artists alike. It's normally all very polite & in some cases has lead to a lasting relationship with the artist or label.
As with many things in our modern world, common sense seems to have flown out the window. I thought we were way past the issue of blogs posting up MP3's. Over the last couple of years record labels have come round to the idea of music blogging & the promotional opportunities it can bring. Listen to Lauren Laverne's daytime 6 music show and they have a segment entitled
MPfree where listeners can download a selected track. The
NME music blog lets readers download new songs on a regular basis. Everyday I receive emails from major labels such as
EMI, Huge Indies such as Rough Trade & Domino as well as many, many small indies, artists: anyone who makes music.
I don't write this through rose-tinted glasses (In fact, I'm not wearing glasses at all). Music blogs mirror the
internet in many ways, they are unregulated & therefore open to abuse. There are many blogs doing absolutely sterling work & operate within these basic boundaries;
Only post up low quality (128KBPS) MP3'sLinks to artists websites & links to stores where high quality MP3's can be purchased.Features/interviews with said artist with links to tour dates.There are many many blogs that don't follow this template, post up high quality MP3's. Post up tracks way ahead of release. Post up tracks without permission. One of the things that I can't understand about this whole episode is that we are all aware of blogs that post up full albums, even full back catalogues of bands/artists. On Blogger. If Google are going to delete music blogs, surely they should start with these ones first?
As an experiment I Googled an album receiving a lot of attention within the music blog community. Try it yourself. Google Beach House's 'Teen Dream'. In the first couple of pages you will find a blog that has the full album available for download. Bill
Lipold's blog (I Rock Cleveland) only posted material that has been provided by record labels, artists or promo companies. Google deleted his blog. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense does it.
Nick
Hornby recently wrote of his love for music blogs, you can view the full article
here:
'It took me longer than it should have done to work out that the
internet is one giant independent record shop – thousands and thousands of cute little independent record shops.' That is very much how i view music blogging. There are some absolutely awesome sites (Blogs). It is very much my first port of call in my quest for new & exotic tunes.'
He continues:' The MP3 blogs that stretch for miles and miles, as far as the eye can see, down that stretch of the net that isn't reserved for pornography, are staffed by enthusiastic and likable young men and women who absolutely don't want to rip the artists off: they are always careful to post links to
iTunes and Amazon, and the songs they put on their sites are for sampling purposes only. (For the most part, they are encouraged to do so by the artists and their labels, who take out adverts on the more popular sites, and are clearly sending advance copies of albums to the
bloggers.) It works for me. I listen, and then I buy what I like, because owning music is still important to me.'
That sums it up for me. If you find a music blog that has a similar taste to your own, untold riches await you. MP3 blogs are still are major source of inspiration for me, sites such as
Alainfinkielkrautrock,
20jazzfunkgreats,
Keytars & Violins,
Lend Me Your Ears and
Feel My Bicep are regular
internet haunts of mine. For an example of a superbly written music blog look no further than
Expletive Undeleted.
If Just Press Play disappears into the ether you'll know what's happened. Time to move to
Wordpress, looks loads better for a start.
In the words of Rodney King 'Can't we all just get along?'
Supreme remix package fresh in from Ghostly International: Osborne lets Luke Vibert, Lukid, Bogdan Raczynski & Bullion loose on his back catalogue. Each one turns in a top drawer rework with extra kudos going to Vibert's warped disco version. Top of the pile is Bullion's interpretation, three and a half minutes of fractured, psychedelic funk. You can get the EP here, you won't spend a better £3.50 all week.
