[QUICK-UPDATE] : Russ (Miles), in whom is the co-idea-developer of this mentioned project, will be home around 5pm UK time at which point we plan to launch our posts regarding the announcement at the same time. Sorry for the hold up, but this is something we developed together in the early stages, and then began to invite a few of our hacking friends to join us, which things just blossomed from there… None-the-less, we both want to be a part of the official announcement, so @ around 5pm London/UK expect to see the mentioned announcement.
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[Original Post]
These are the last seven news articles posted to the RIAA web site front page.
Recording Industry Association of America
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RIAA Identifies 12 Piracy “Hot Spot” Cities�
Music, Movie Industries Target Theft On Internal Campus Networks
Five out of Seven of these articles are specific to RIAA’s ongoing attempts to control the flow of music through the channels in which they own. But if bleeding means leading, then what we have on our hands goes beyond scrapes and bruises, and leads directly into SEVERE hemorrhaging thats well on its way to hypovolemic shock being listed as the “cause of death.”
Okay, fair enough…
As a contract software developer, I sign legally binding agreements all the time* and understand both what it is I am being paid, and what it is I am expected to return in exchange for this payment. In other words, I have full knowledge of the contents of any given contract, and when I sign it, I am bound to it.
That said, I have to wonder… How on earth are the artists that RIAA represents making any money? All that goes into headlines such as these runs in the millions in regards to legal costs, etc… And in some cases, hundreds of millions for the extreme cases in which agressive campaigns are put into place to scare any future “criminals” from “stealing” the music of the artists they represent.
Unfortunately, when I look at the above headlines and think of how much money was spent on the five that represent agressive lobbying and/or legal campaigns, I have to ask myself…
Just who’s stealing from who?
Okay, enough of that…. I have no desire to make enemies with RIAA. It is my belief that if handled correctly, we can all help change the above headlines into things such as “We LOVE our Jobs! Thanks for enjoying the music of those we represent!” (okay, a pipe dream, but a dream none-the-less :)
The reality is this:
What I do hope is that I can work together with the current group of hackers in which have been working to develop a pretty cool project that involves working with the various industry representatives, musicians, and those of us interested in gaining access to, sharing, and enjoying the best music for any given genre, culture, locale, or any other desired label (even if that means no label at all… just something that a lot of folks suggest) and do so embracing ALL of that in which a free culture is all about.
I believe the Creative Commons, headed by Lawrence Lessig, has paved the way to a world in which we can achieve ALL of that in which a Free Culture is all about.
With this in mind… Expect an announcement in the next hour or so regarding more of what I am refering to…
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* minus the last year in which I have been working on books, and finishing out LONG overdue projects, one of which I have mentioned above
one fact that doesn't gain nearly enough attention is that, while these firms talk about protecting the artists, they actually only protect the songwriter. thus the "other guys" in a band often end up with nothing.
Hey James,
Wow! I can now state James Governor has read my blog! :D
Okay, shock value aside... One of the cool things about the project I am about to announce is that the folks involved have a broad base of experience in the various aspects of the music industry, including Dan Zambonini who is a musician himself in the UK who understands the ins and outs of all of this, and is REALLY excited about helping to open things up such that the artists can be artists, and have this mean more than what would normally be prefaced by "starving" :)
It seems you actually have some experience with this obviously. Would LOVE to get an email from you after reading the announcement here in a bit as to what this is all about, suggesting you would like to help guide the direction of this project.
This is ALL about the artists and fans... As such, it needs to be designed (most of the code is already written... will link to it in the post) by the artists and fans, not by some hacker who *THINKS* he knows whats best, to find out that instead that this is most definitely not the case...
Just waiting to hear back from Russ (co-idea-developer) as I am hoping for us to time two announcements posts from each of our perspectives and let this set the stage for the individualism approach to all of this...
More soon :D
The mentioned announcement is now live :D
http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2006/06/ann_the_viberavetions_project.html