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Ramblings

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Apr 21st 2004 2:19am





Trying To Find A Middle Ground For File Sharing?

from the likely-to-please-no-one dept

Found over at New Media Musings is a link to Scott Matthews attempt to find a "middle ground" to the file sharing mess. As with many middle ground solutions, there are things with this that are likely to upset either side, and I'm not sure there's much to be thrilled about either. Basically, it's just taking a Creative Commons style approach (where the copyright owner has the right to clearly define their rights over the song) and combines it with a directory/database system like the DNS system. The idea, then, is that you could query the directory to easily figure out the rights on certain songs. As an application of this, he suggests someone could make an RSS/BitTorrent feed of good songs that are free for non-commercial use. The one benefit I see is that this does offer a better way for musicians to promote new tracks that they're making available for free, as it becomes a central place to make such an announcement (and that, alone, could actually encourage more musicians to make their songs available). Other than that, though, it does little to satisfy either side in the debate. The RIAA has shown that they have little to no interest in any discussion that involves anyone ever giving out songs for free, and most file sharers just want to listen to music and not have to worry about any kind of digital rights.

3 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Scott Matthews, Apr 21st, 2004 @ 9:02am

    No Subject Given

    Hey Mike, thanks for picking up on DRUMS. Let me start by saying that I know perfectly well that I don't provide all the answers -- but, I do think that something like DRUMS can at least be considered by both sides of the p2p debate, and that it would have real practical use.

    Given the nature of the current state of the p2p debates, I think it would be a great step forward if both sides could simply talk about something new, rather than rehash the same old arguments that we've been having for five years...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
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    Mike (profile), Apr 21st, 2004 @ 9:21am

    Re: No Subject Given

    Good point. I don't think the plan is bad, I'm just not sure if it brings us towards anything all that useful. Still, maybe by talking about something new, better ideas will come out of it, which I think is your point.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Scott Matthews, Apr 21st, 2004 @ 10:13am

    Re: No Subject Given

    I think that there's lots of useful potential -- as a quick example, the very idea that you liked: a better way for musicians to promote new tracks.

    As it is now, it's really hard to figure out who has rights to what, and if somebody wants to make a site that promotes new artists, something like DRUMS could totally change the process from a bureaucratic mess, to a simple, straitforward (and even automated) querry, if you see what I mean...

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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