”Continuing an aggressive campaign to defend his copyrights, pop star Prince is preparing to file lawsuits in three countries–including the United States–against The Pirate Bay, CNET News.com has learned.”
(Via Prince to sue The Pirate Bay | Tech news blog - CNET News.com.)
There has been some backlash this week to the news Prince is going after people publishing his works online.
While he may be overreaching in some places, or his counsel may be overzealous, I think he is right to do so.
It is his work and he has every right to control it how he sees fit.
Prince blazed a trail outside the traditional music distribution system, long before it became fashionable or even realistic to do so.
So, if he wants to tightly control his works that his right as the author of those works, unlike the crazy RIAA thugs.
The Pirates Bay may be facing a real threat in this case.
Prince is the original author of works being pirated using their service, not some greedy 3rd party entity lashing out to protect their crumbling business model.
The real question for consumers, The Pirates Bay and Prince in this case, is do you respect an artists right to control his works, or is The Pirates Bay only real motivation piracy?
Who has a right to their freedom?
Free to share or free to ignore others freedom?
”These guys could have done what we did. In the early days of the Internet, everyone figured the majors would build digital distribution arms. But they didn’t do it, because they didn’t understand technology, and they didn’t want to invest in building this expertise, and they were freaked out about piracy and paralyzed with fear. So we stepped in. We made the big investment. We hired programmers. We developed software that’s easy to use and works flawlessly. (If you think that’s trivial, think again. It’s huge.) We ran the system. We promoted it, we marketed it, we haggled with all the majors and struck deals. We took all the risk, which was considerable. Now we’re reaping the reward. And the majors want a bigger slice. Um, for what? We did all the work. Ain’t gonna happen, slick.”
(Via Fake Steve Jobs.)
$5.03 later I have 17 DRM-free tracks thanks to the new iTunes update today.
Hope this is a sign of things to come.
Deeply unique and filled with strutting attitude.
This song, by Rob Dickinson, will be in both a movie and television show within the next year, if not sooner.
Been so busy lately I let my DIT posts slide. So, here are a few great _or_ at least catchy tracks I can’t live without this week.
Today’s desert island track, Mother Mother by Tracy Bonham, from The Burden of Being Upright.
Heard this track on XM Radio the other night, passionate, angry and powerful. Had this CD, but lost it in the cross country move ti Raleigh.
Today’s desert island disc is, Big World from Joe Jackson (not available on iTunes).
Saw Joe Jack on this tour at the Greek Theater in Berkeley, California, USA. He was flawless and amazing. This record was actually recorded in front of a live audience in Japan (if I remember correctly), as if it were a recording studio.
On a recent Gilmour Daily podcast, Steve Gilmour and Doc Searls discussed DRM.
During the conversation, the concept of triggering the memory of a commercially encumbered work in the listener, as a way of by-passing the music companies stranglehold on distribution, was suggested.
AKA. The all-too-familiar tune in my head solution.
Could you trigger the memory of the song, without actually distributing it and avoid paying the music companies.
As usual I jumped in the shower and my brain would not let go of the issue at the heart of this problem.
What if, creators were able to embed tags as bookmarks throughout a podcast? Perhaps ID3 tags as bookmarks?
Essentially, tag the podcast with what they were thinking, intending or expecting listeners to hear (feel?) at precise points in the recording.
As the podcast played, the playback application would locate the relevant track based on the tag, inserted it or play it at the intended location, and then pick-up right where it left off after the new content was inserted.
With a vast amount of content already distributed to billions of devices and households, in the form of CD collections ripped to disk and content purchased legally, why not take advantage of the material residing locally?
Player applications, like iTunes, could be tweaked to scan podcasts for these tags and pre-load/mix content before or during playback.
Syncing applications could do the same for detached devices like iPods.
Recording applications could automate the process, by creating these tags or bookmarks, as the intended material was queued during recording or in post-production.
This would effectively route-around the media industries copyright war-zone, freeing up producers and consumers to create, share and mash-up content as they like. A side benefit, this technique would save a huge amount of bandwidth.
But, what if the specified content was missing from the local device?
In the case of iTunes, a user might specify a set of rules to replace missing content with content from the artist, genre or preview of the track from the iTunes music store.
If nothing appropriate is available it might just skip over the tag, or insert a sexy english voice stating, “The content suggested is not available. Visit this podcast’s site for more details”.
Consumers and producers might want a random tag, used to insert random content by artist or genre. Thereby creating a unique experience every time the podcast is replayed.
Imagine if the consumer could specify the content for the advertising/promos in podcasts?
This would radically differentiate the advertising model emerging in podcasting from the old school media companies. Consumers selecting the type of ads or promos they want to hear, perhaps?
A whole new business could be created hosting and distribute content for insertion into podcasts, at the playback level.
Content-shifting inside time-shifted media, The next innovation in podcasting, in my opinion.
track Mr. Lovely rocks. You can buy her tracks or album here.
I caught it on Adam Currey’s Daily Source Code podcast.
It also turned me on to, Indieeclectic.com. Which is a pretty cool indie music site that sell DRM free music.
Today’s desert island track, Ship of Fools by World Party, from Private Revolution.
This is a timeless classic in my opinion. Every bit as relevant today as it was years ago.
Today’s desert island disc is, Abandon Luncheonette from Daryl Hall & John Oates.
I grew up pillaging my mothers record collection and have nothing but fond memories of this awesome album.
I missed last week’s music post, must have been longing on the a beach or something. ;-)
Today’s desert island track, The Truth by Limp Bizkit, from Part 1 of The Unquestionable Truth.
An accidental discovery, the guitar hook and energy grabbed me and has never let go.
Definitely has a dash of Rage against the Machine in there.
Check out the video.
Today’s desert island disc is, Harvest Moon from Neil Young.
Neil Young. Instant Classic. Enough Said.
Today’s desert island track, Restless by Evil Nine & Toastie Taylor, from the motion picture soundtrack for London.
Makes you move. Nice solid groove with a mildly hectic passage.
Today’s desert island disc is, Angel Dust from Faith No More.
The trailblazers for today’s rock-rappers. A true mash-up of rock, rap and electronic with attention paid to composition.
Oops. I forgot to post these on Friday, they were left lingering in draft mode.
Today’s desert island track, C’mon Children by The Out Crowd
Reminiscent of 60’s psychedelic rock.
Today’s desert island disc is, Amos Lee – Live at KCRW.
The male counterpart of Norah Jones. Great voice, excellent compositions, and perfect for chilling out.
Today’s desert island track, Super Bon Bon by Soul Coughing
Grooving, dark and powerful.
Today’s desert island disc is, Dark Side of the Moon from Pink Floyd.
An all time classic, which I first experienced as a child sitting on the bow of a speed boat, listening in the high fidelity of the original Walkman, as we sped across a lake.
Not available on iTunes.
Today’s desert island track, F**n’ in the Bushes from the album Standing on the Shoulder of Giants by Oasis
Not what you would expect from Oasis.
Today’s desert island disc is, Lemon Parade from Tonic.
This album is a ranges from rollicking fun to melancholy, yet touching.
