Archive for the 'Repudiate Copyright' Category

Date: February 28th, 2007, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

From a slashdot article titled DRM Free Music is Everywhere, I posted this reply, titled DRM hurts, copyright hurts - recording = marketing
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As a very very small music producer (basically, I give bands money to record or tour, and I hope to recoup some of that investment in the future), I work very hard to get the bands I finance to repudiate not just DRM but copyright in general. Small bands have no real reason for either — recording music is just a marketing process to try to get people to come to your shows. Sure, without copyright, some big producer might steal your lyrics and music and have the newest pop boy band re-record it, but this too would just be a great marketing tactic — the Internet would jump all over it.

Small bands need to give their recorded music away freely online in order to get more people to come to their shows. My brother’s band Maps & Atlases just went on a 7 day tour to the East Coast and ended up in a tiny university town called East Stroudsburg, PA. Instead of showing up to no crowd, the venue was packed — a rarity for the town and venue. Why did this happen? Maps & Atlases released their EP for free online. They sold out of their first EP (2000 copies) during their 2006 tour, and they’re coming up fast on selling out their second pressing, even though the music is easily downloaded online. Why do fans pay for albums? They get face time with the band, they get autographs, and they know that buying the merch direct will keep the band writing and touring.

Read this entire article at the repudiate copyright site.

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Date: February 20th, 2007, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

Slashdot today has an article titled U.S. Copyright Lobby Out of Touch with the following editorial:

“The BBC is featuring a story on how the U.S. copyright lobby is increasingly out of touch with the rest of the world. The article focuses on a recent report designed to highlight the inadequacies of IP protection around the world by arguing for a global expansion of the DMCA and elimination of copyright exceptions. Michael Geist penned the article, which specifically calls out the United States for expecting the world at large to adopt its non-standard standards for copyright law.”

Read my comment at the repudiate copyright site.

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Date: August 1st, 2006, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

PORTLAND, OR — by Mike Bryson — The French Constitutional Council has rejected the law passed by both Houses of the French parliament that would for Apple to unrestrict songs sold through iTunes to be played on competitor MP3 players. Loopholes in the denied law would have allowed Apple to restrict songs from MP3 player competition if the copyright holder asked. Read this entire article at the repudiate copyright site.

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Date: July 24th, 2006, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

YouTube, one of my favorite “Web 2.0″ sites, may soon have their day in court, according to CNet.com. YouTube’s is a social network that allows members to post videos to the site to share with visitors. YouTube does not preview content, so it has been accused of being a rampant violator of copyright. In the article, a journalist has filed a lawsuit against YouTube for distributing a video he took in 1992 during the Los Angeles riots — 14 years ago. Read this entire article at the repudiate copyright site.

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Date: July 18th, 2006, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

Gary North published a great article today titled Watching the New York Times Self-Destruct.1 He talks of the end of an era — the end of the newspaper. I was born in 1974 and I still read newspapers. I ran print newsletters for years and they were successful enough. I killed all but 2 of my newsletters last year and I accepted the online blog format. I produce and finance music groups and some video groups as well as write online, and I’m on the verge of releasing 2 new books in e-book format (free) as well as in print format. Read this entire article at the repudiate copyright site.

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Date: June 16th, 2006, Filed under Repudiate Copyright

In a reply to yesterday’s e-mail exchange, Robin K, webster of Disobey the Radio in the UK shoots back another interesting e-mail offering me hope of a worldwide realization to the fraud of copyright in general. While Robin and I don’t come from the same political beliefs, I think this is a key relationship that can help bring both sides to common terms of agreement. In my experience, most anti-copyright advocates (not necessarily Robin, though!) come from the ultra-left wing establishment. They want MORE State-control of business, without realization that it is this State-control that hurts the artists and consumers the most. I’m not certain of Robin’s political leanings, but I’m glad that we agree on many different aspects of creative content control. Read this entire article at the No Copyright Studios site.

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