Piracy

What is Piracy? Part Two

December 4, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Last week, we posted an item about the acetate of the first version of The Velvet Underground & Nico going on auction on eBay. (As I write this, the bidding is up to US $107,000.) This weekend, I got an email from a friend who said that he was downloading a digital copy of this album.

So here is my question: are either of these piracy? The auction of the physical artifact and the digital download of the music purportedly ripped from that physical artifact. Is the auction somehow not piracy, but the download piracy?

What Is Piracy? Part One

November 6, 2006 by Kassia Krozser

I’ve been having some interesting discussions in the backblog about piracy and related issues, yet the one thing we haven’t fully defined is “What is piracy?” This is not an idle question, nor is this post going to answer the whole question. What should be an easy answer becomes mired in a series of “What ifs?”

What is piracy?
[Read more…] about What Is Piracy? Part One

Five Lessons The Music Industry Can Learn From AllofMP3

October 23, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

The recording industry has been waging war against Russian-based music websites for years. While the industry has successfully litigated most file sharing networks out of existence, they haven’t had much luck stopping sites like MediaService’s AllofMP3. Despite the RIAA’s best efforts AllofMP3 continues to sell digital downloads to music lovers around the world, while technically complying with Russian copyright laws and licensing agreements.

While complying with the laws of your country may seem like a loophole here in the United States, it makes perfect sense to a company that’s based in Russia. Unfortunately for MediaServices that the loophole is about to be closed. There are signs the Russian government is planning to crack down on grey market download sites like AllofMP3 in an effort to gain admission into the World Trade Organization.

Regardless of what you think about the legality of AllofMP3, there’s no denying that MediaServices has created one of the most innovative and consumer friendly digital music services around. AllofMP3 is so well done that the “legitimate” recording industry could learn quite a bit by studying it. Hopefully the major labels will take a long look at AllofMP3 before it gets shut down.

Here are a few lessons the music industry could learn from AllofMP3:

The MPAA’s Final Solution to DVD Piracy: Two Doggies!

September 25, 2006 by Jim Connelly

Sigh. Nothing worse than life imitating a throwaway joke. Last week, writing about YouTube’s copyrighted material discovery software, I called it “the digitial equivalent of drug-sniffing dogs.”

Little did I know that the MPAA had already taken my silly joke and turned it into an even sillier reality. In a move that sounds more like a YouTube parody than anything else, the MPAA has trained a pair of dogs to sniff DVDs. I swear to gods that I am not, in any way, shape or form, making this up.

Hong Kong’s Anti-Piracy Sweatshop

July 22, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

The Boy Scouts of Hong Kong are at it again. Last year they began awarding merit badges for copyright proficiency, and now they’ve enlisted their entire membership to scour the web for signs of piracy. Nothing says summer fun for kids like firing up the laptop and searching the internet for intellectual property violations.

It’s not just the Boy Scouts either. According to the New York Times 200,000 ~~children~~ Youth Ambassadors, will be actively involved in the program.

When DVDs Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Send DVDs

May 11, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

In the latest indication that the entertainment industry has completely lost its grasp on reality, a coalition of forces lead by the MPAA has enlisted a pair of well trained dogs to help fight the war on piracy.

The program, which began testing this week, was announced by a press release that can only be described as surreal .

Program co-sponsor Raymond Leinster could hardly contain his excitement:

RIAA Attempts To Outlaw Shared Folders

April 19, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

Just when you think the RIAA’s war on common sense can’t possibly get any more absurd they somehow manage to top themselves. The trade organization’s latest battle with the 21st century comes in the case of Elektra vs. Barker where the RIAA’s attorneys have been arguing that the defendant violated copyright laws by storing music files in a shared folder on her computer.

According to the RIAA, it doesn’t matter if the digital music files were obtained legally, the fact that they were stored in a shared folder that might allow others to access them constitutes “distribution” and is therefore in violation of copyright laws.

Since the RIAA seems to be waging a war on shared folders shouldn’t they really be suing Microsoft for making shared folders possible?

Piracy, Perks, and DRM

March 31, 2006 by Kirk Biglione

The RIAA tells us that piracy hurts artists, so we all try to be good little consumers who acquire music legally whenever possible. Who wants to hurt an artist? It’s like hurting a kitten.

Fortunately, in the 21st century there are quite a few ways to acquire music legally. Thanks to iTunes it’s possible to build your music collection while draining your bank account in 99 cent increments.

If you’re “of a certain age”, you probably still buy quite a few CD’s to round out your music collection. And, if you are a serious music collector, you probably buy a fair number of used CD’s. Serious music collectors have to buy used CD’s because new CD’s are priced for people who like to acquire music in small doses.

Now I’m going to tell you something you probably don’t want to hear: Buying used CD’s hurts artists.