You may remember Tanya Andersen (pictured left) as the woman who was falsely accused of illegally sharing over 1,000 songs, thus becoming the target of an unsuccessful RIAA lawsuit. According to The Oregonian, a federal magistrate has awarded her nearly $108,000 in recompense for attorney’s fees and other costs associated with her successfully fighting the lawsuit. Details, inside…
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By 5.9.08
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BoingBoing notes that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed the notorious PRO-IP bill that ” puts local law enforcement in a position to demand the forfeiture in criminal proceedings of stuff used to violate copyright. Which means that instead of the RIAA simply trying to collect fines, they can also incite local authorities to collect all the computers and related gear that was used to pirate.” [ BoingBoing ] (Thanks, John!)
By 5.5.08
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Nine Inch Nails is offering their new album for download “one hundred percent free,” on their website. They’ll also release a CD and a vinyl version in July for those of you who like paying for stuff. “The music is available in a variety of formats including high-quality MP3, FLAC or M4A lossless at CD quality and even higher-than-CD quality 24/96 WAVE,” says NIN. Will you buy a record that the band gives away? [NIN]
Arizona Judge Rejects RIAA's "Shared Directory = Piracy" Argument
By 5.1.08
Although it won’t affect other cases, the RIAA was handed a small smackdown this week when a U.S. district judge rejected their request for a summary judgement, and ruled that putting song files in a shared directory was not enough proof that infringement had occurred.
Microsoft Stops Supporting MSN Music DRM, Tells You To Hurry Up And Transfer Your Songs
By 4.23.08
Yet another reason not to buy DRM music. They are telling us that we have to burn our music to CD format since no additional computers or devices can be authorized after August 31, 2008. So let’s see. Burn to CD, then rip said CD to MP3. Couldn’t they just give us a tool to do it for us, just this once?
David forwarded a copy of the email Microsoft sent him about the expiring DRM. Reading it gives us a headache.
Universal Music Group: Throwing Away Promotional CDs Is An "Unauthorized Distribution"
By 4.10.08
All promotional CDs are forever the property of Universal Music Group and giving or throwing them away are “unauthorized distributions,” according to a brief filed by UMG. In a lawsuit filed in federal court, UMG claims that ownership rights to promotional CDs, typically sent to DJs, reviewers, and others in the music business to generate hype for new releases, are expressly retained by the label. The Electronic Frontier Foundation is taking up the fight against this absurd position in UMG v. Augusto.
MySpace To Launch DRM-Free Music Store
By 4.3.08
MySpace is starting a DRM-free music store, says the NYT.
Exact terms of the deal and details about the new site, like prices for downloaded music tracks, were not disclosed. But MySpace did say the site would offer songs free of digital rights management software or D.R.M., which is used to prevent illicit copying but can create technical hurdles for buyers. The songs would be playable on any portable music device, including Apple’s iPod.
The store will also feature ring tones, tickets, T-shirts, and all that other stuff the kids like.
RIAA Pockets Filesharing Settlement Money, Doesn't Pay Artists Whose Copyrights Were Infringed
By 3.17.08
None of the estimated $400 million that the RIAA received in settlements with Napster, KaZaA, and Bolt over allegations of copyright infringement has gone to the artists whose copyrights were allegedly infringed. Now the artists are considering suing the RIAA.
By 3.9.08
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Rumor has it that the RIAA is plotting to steal from anyone who has ever illegally downloaded music a single hour of sleep early Sunday morning. Adjust your clocks accordingly.
By 3.6.08
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Trent Reznor’s “free sample” music marketing experiment is a success. [Ars Technica]
By 2.27.08
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48% of teenagers haven’t bought a CD in a year, meaning that 52% of teenagers still buy more CDs than we do. [LA Times]
House Passes Bill That Would Require Colleges To Practice Network Filtering
By 2.12.08
Last week the House voted 354-58 to approve a college funding bill that requires colleges to “make plans to offer some form of legal alternative to P2P file-swapping” and to implement some form of network filtering. Luckily for sane people everywhere, the White House has already made veto-noises at the bill for other reasons—but still, the MPAA came that much closer to forcing its admittedly false worldview on universities.
Verizon To Hollywood: We're Not The Piracy Police
By 2.6.08
AT&T and Comcast may be willing to help Hollywood control piracy on their networks, but Verizon wants none of it, says the New York Times.
By 1.21.08
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RIAA website hacked. Over the weekend, some hacker-types took it upon themselves to delete the RIAA’s website. [TorrentFreak]
Video Game Industry On Nitro While Music Cries Alone In The Dark With No Friends
By 1.18.08
The video game industry is on fire! Wooo! Sales are up! Times are good!
In December, Nintendo had its biggest month ever with the hot-selling game system. Holiday shoppers bought 1.4 million Wiis, according to sales data released Thursday by the NPD Group. The Wii’s success helped drive the video game industry to a record-setting $17.9 billion in sales, about 43% higher than 2006’s $12.5 billion, which was also a record.
Meanwhile the music industry isn’t having such a fun time. Sales are down. People are getting fired at EMI and the Rolling Stones are all pissed off about it.
By 1.11.08
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Sony has agreed to sell its songs DRM-free on the Amazon MP3 store, completing the set—now all four big record companies are on board. It’s amazing how a little iTunes competitiveness will bring a bunch of executives together.
Napster Drops DRM, Will (Finally) Sell MP3s
By 1.7.08
Napster, once a file-sharing service that famously drug the RIAA kicking and litigating into the digital music era, will finally drop DRM and start selling mp3s, says Ars Technica.
