This Week In Techdirt History: October 8th – 14th
from the see-changes dept
Five Years Ago
This week in 2012, while Hollywood was wining and dining New Zealand politicians to help get their copyright demands into the TPP, the similarly bad provisions from the dead ACTA were unsurprisingly appearing in CETA. The RIAA was continuing to share bogus math, this time about the supposed decline in musicians, Microsoft was caught sending an especially amusing takedown to Google over a link to… Bing, and copyright maximalists were celebrating the settlement in the Google Books/Authors Guild lawsuit, even as another judge was ruling that book scanning is obviously fair use.
Ten Years Ago
This week in 2007, there was a sea change as more and more artists began to realize that they could try different business models instead of relying on record labels, with bands rushing to embrace free distribution and even some high-profile artists like Madonna taking control of their own business. But for the most part, the recording industry was still trying the same old things, and making incredibly weak attempts to compete with folks like iTunes. Maybe basing your business on copy protection was not such a great idea.
Fifteen Years Ago
This week in 2002, as the future of webcasting was unclear at best, Silicon Valley was applauding the growing efforts to fight back against Hollywood, even as the copyright battle was heating up thanks to things like broadband fearmongering and a new lawsuit against Mp3.com from some big names in music — or, most importantly, the beginning of the Eldred vs. Ashcroft case before the Supreme Court (which would sadly go on to uphold the constitutionality of the 1998 copyright extension.)
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Fifty Years Ago
Ending a fifteen week run by the previous holder of the number one spot on Billboard’s Top LPs chart, the week of October 14, 1967 saw a new album climb up into first place: Bobbie Gentry’s debut solo album, Ode to Bille Joe.
Here, in a 1967 performance on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, is Bobbie Gentry presenting the album’s title track.
What a knockout!
Twenty Years Ago
Up-To-Date October 5 – 11, 1997
Sixty years ago, October 14, 1957, the British Computer Society was founded.
Hollywood and copyright
After a fair few years of it, I have come to the conclusion that the appropriate term is “whining” when we speak about Hollywood and copyright. So the first sentence should read:
“This week in 2012, while Hollywood was whining and dining New Zealand politicians”
Only then will we get the full majesty of Hollywood’s position, where a group of talentless drones suck the life out of the inspired and the creative.