Should I keep this going?

This blog doesn't take up too much of my time but I'm not sure that it is really doing anybody any good. If you would like to see me continue this please leave some comments.

Thanks everybody!

The RIAA and Movie Industry Think They Are Above The Law

This should be no surprise, but the RIAA and their cronies in the film industry believe that standard business laws should not apply to them. Both industries are lobbying politicians to receive a special exception to tough pretexting laws that were brought about in response to the HP case where employees were lying to journalists to get information. According to them, they need this right to pretext in order to catch pirates. The biggest problem with this is that the alterations they have for the laws leave such huge loopholes that they would be rendered useless. To some extent I can see why the RIAA could use these changes. At the same time part of me finds it very disturbing that the RIAA is trying to receive legislative support to more or less lie to average American citizens as they attempt to sue them for something that a majority of the population practices. If I was a lawyer for the RIAA I'd try to find a link between illegal downloading and Al-Quaeda. That's how you get legislation passed! Hell, that's how you get wars started!

Nine Inch Nails Works A Genius Marketing Ploy And The RIAA Says No

Nine Inch Nails has a new album coming out on April 17th by the name "Year Zero". Instead of the usual single released to MTV or two songs offered on the official website Reznor and his band have taken a far more interesting method of promotion. Ideas ranging from tour shirts with highlighted letters that revealed cryptic websites, to leaving flashdrives in bathrooms of their shows across Europe containing a single unreleased song from the album per country have created a huge amount of buzz within the community. The concept worked great with major fan sites hosted the songs and forums with hundreds upon hundreds of theories and stories coming up concerning the new album. It was interesting, it was effective, and it was too much for the RIAA. Apparently they are threatening to sue anyone who hosts the released songs despite the fact that it was the band's idea to release these songs. The amazing part is the only songs being circulated are the ones directly chosen by Reznor himself. The album hasn't been leaked in its entirety and it seems like most fans are content since they have enough new music to whet their appetite. I fail to see the difference between this and a band's website putting up a few songs off their new album but I guess the RIAA sees far deeper into the issue than I do... In my opinion, this is one of the most well executed promotions for an album I've ever seen. By coming on multiple fronts/formats and making the die-hard fans into a legion of little hype machines, you are able to get major word of mouth while at the same time stay credible. The RIAA is actually hurting the artist they are supposed to be helping by stopping this word of mouth effort. Let's just hope more bands use this style of promotion and that next time the RIAA doesn't mess everything up. For more information click here.

Apple Takes Steps Towards Being DRM-Free

Apple has released a statement saying that in May all of their content from EMI will be offered in a 256kbps (higher quality), DRM-free (can be played on ANY mp3 player and as many computers as you want) form that costs only $1.29 per song (if you already own the song you can upgrade for 30 cents). These songs will also still be available for download in the original 128kbps, drm-hampered, 99 cent version for those who are too cheap to spot the 30 cents for the gigantic upgrade. This deal has a large impact considering the EMI library contains over five million songs at this time. Jobs claims that by the end of the year almost half of iTunes' content should have a DRM-free option available. This decision is HUGE, as this step towards accessible online music could be the action that sets into motion Apple's complete domination of the music world. If they are able to convince other labels to sell DRM-free music, we could see the transition into a world of easily accessible, easy to listen to music that is both simple AND legal. Good job Apple! Right when things are bad and you're starting to look like any other mega corporation, you go and do something that could possibly be one of the largest steps towards a new music industry reality since iTunes itself. You can read the official release here.

Apple and Record Companies Under Euro-Attack

The European Commission has issues a statement condemning the actions of Apple and record companies for breaking EU rules forbidding "Restrictive" business practices. This is in relation to the different selections available in different countries that are all part of the EU. Official statements like this are usually the first step in an anti-trust case that will be brought against a company. It's not sure how serious this will be for Apple and these record companies in Europe, but in any case it's interesting to see how Apple seems to be getting more and more Microsoft style negative press for questionable business practices. Between the DRM issue and iTunes non-international selections, iTunes could end up being the new Microsoft Windows, in the way that everyone has it and uses it, and yet nobody truly likes it.