alex 's Techdirt Comments

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  • On the post: New Study: Piracy Increases The Quality Of Content

    alex ( profile ), 25 Jul, 2011 @ 12:31pm

    hmm....

    I would completely agree that offering a service that is better than infringement is a better solution than fighting the infringement without improving your offering. If these companies have had difficult times (because of piracy or otherwise) and up'd their games to deal with it than that's a good thing.

    However, that doesn't justify the infringement. It's shit to say, "I don't pay for movies/music/software/books because research has shown that will improve the quality of them."

  • On the post: Why Sita Sings The Blues Is Perfectly Legal In Germany, But You Still Can't Watch It On YouTube

    alex ( profile ), 19 Jul, 2011 @ 11:31am

    not the first case i've heard of this

    I live in Berlin so see blocked videos all the time when I click YouTube links.

    I also have a friend who has all of the music videos released on his label blocked by YouTube/GEMA even though he doesn't even use them as a collecting agency! He's written to YouTube several times about it but they haven't lifted the blocks.

  • On the post: RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000

    alex ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2011 @ 04:40am

    Re:

    that'll learn em!

    do you buy from the indies and only take from the majors or are you indiscriminate in your gluttonous consumption?

  • On the post: RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000

    alex ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2011 @ 04:28am

    Re: Re: Re: Couple of details...

    ++

  • On the post: RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000

    alex ( profile ), 10 Jul, 2011 @ 04:14am

    Re: Re:

    There are many thousands of record labels. I know this article is talking about a contract from one of the Big 4 - but either way, I don't get your point about it being a monopoly.

  • On the post: RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000

    alex ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2011 @ 04:33am

    Re: Re: Re:

    well it's a completely made-up example =]

  • On the post: RIAA Accounting: How To Sell 1 Million Albums And Still Owe $500,000

    alex ( profile ), 08 Jul, 2011 @ 02:05am

    Re:

    I agree.

    It's obviously important for artists to be aware of the contract they're signing and this video certainly highlights some of the things to look out for. At the same time, it's fairly one-sided.

    The band was given $300k upfront - when nobody really knew if the album (that didn't exist yet) was going to sell well. The label spent $500k in studio fees and another $200k on a top producer and engineer. In other words, the label has invested $1m on recording the album. They then have to pay for manufacturing, distribution, promotion etc.

    Also slightly misleading is that the $500k debt that the band has ended up with isn't a real debt; they don't have to pay it back. It's just a number on a balance sheet.

  • On the post: Could Apple's MusicMatch Be A Tool To Identify Infringers?

    alex ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 07:40am

    Respectfully, you don't know what motives exist.

  • On the post: That Didn't Take Long: Turntable.fm Blocked To All Non-US Users

    alex ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 06:19am

    Re:

    I just had to ask someone about this, as it would be rather funny if ip-geolocating suddenly became impossible!

    Apparently, part of the new IPv6 addresses is a network portion which services will still be able to use for this.

  • On the post: That Didn't Take Long: Turntable.fm Blocked To All Non-US Users

    alex ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 05:52am

    Re: Re:

    Yep, although not really the record labels that are to blame.

    A label might have released a record in one territory (and registered it with a rights collecting agency there) then lisenced the same record to another label to release in a different territory (and register it with another rights collecting agency there). In that case, turntable.fm would have to pay the correct agency depending on where the listenner is. Then of course the different rights collecting agencies will want different fees (if they allow it int eh first place). Like I say, it's a complicated business.

    In my opinion, the rights agencies need to get together and sort this out between themselves, as they're the ones really stopping international services from working. For example, services as big and influential as YouTube can't play videos to people in Germany if they contain music registered with the rights collecting group GEMA. It's pretty bad for the end users and I hope they sort it out soon.

  • On the post: That Didn't Take Long: Turntable.fm Blocked To All Non-US Users

    alex ( profile ), 28 Jun, 2011 @ 04:27am

    It's a shame but not at all unexpected (eg in your previous post). International lisensing is a complicated business.

    I suspect turntable.fm are now looking at whether they want to do ip-country lookups for every client/stream and pay the fee in whatever country they're located in - and of course that's not even an option if MediaNet don't have the lisense for some music in some territories.

    On a different note - this kind of thing will have a positive overall effect imo. Enough people saw turntable.fm and hyped it, and that means the cat is out of the bag. It can't really be stopped, because that'll just force it underground - and I don't doubt there's a team of devs in Russia with a few terrabytes of dodgy mp3s who will jump in with a similar idea if nobody else does.

  • On the post: Lady Gaga Says $0.99 Albums Make Sense, Especially For Digital

    alex ( profile ), 14 Jun, 2011 @ 04:37am

    $0.99 albums certainly make sense.... if Amazon is paying the difference!

    Saying artists don't need labels is fine when you're signed to Universal - who sealed deals with Amazon, Farmville, Best Buy and HBO to promote your new album.

  • On the post: Today's Copyright Laws: For Imbeciles And Lobbyists Only

    alex ( profile ), 27 May, 2011 @ 02:29am

    ++

    If it's anything like the Digital Economy Bill, they'll strip all the sensible stuff out of it before passing it as law. =/

  • On the post: The War On Sharing As An Infographic Of Europe

    alex ( profile ), 24 May, 2011 @ 01:18am

    Re: Confused

    Same. I have no idea what the countries are meant to represent.

  • On the post: Another 'Exception'? Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year With No Record Label

    alex ( profile ), 18 May, 2011 @ 04:18am

    Re: Re:

    I can see this now. I looked at his site yesterday when I read about this somewhere else and say that he was selling his tracks, and automatically assumed they were under traditional copyright. I've actually never heard of someone selling CC music, and the idea of selling something that is also free is a slightly difficult idea to get my head around - but very interesting.

  • On the post: Another 'Exception'? Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year With No Record Label

    alex ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 11:54am

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    This is interesting. I hadn't heard of CC licenses being used like this before.

  • On the post: Another 'Exception'? Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year With No Record Label

    alex ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 10:42am

    Re: Re:

    I'm confused. He's selling his music on his website but it's Creative Commons?

  • On the post: Another 'Exception'? Jonathan Coulton Making Half A Million A Year With No Record Label

    alex ( profile ), 17 May, 2011 @ 10:19am

    He's self-releasing (and making a good job of it) but that's the only part of this that's new isn't it?

    I mean he's still selling copies of his tracks under traditional copyright as well as tickets to gigs, merchandise and publishing deals.

    It sounds like he's just started his own label to release his own stuff, non?

  • On the post: The Senators Who Say Merely Linking To Certain Sites Should Be A Felony

    alex ( profile ), 14 May, 2011 @ 11:21am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    You don't think there's anything wrong with going around introducing people to a guy selling pirate dvds?

    I guess my only point here is that I think people should be responsible for the web content they publish. We can't publish certain texts or images (fair use cases excepted) without infringing on rights so I don't get why links are different.

    You start to get into grey areas if you separate different methods of publishing content. Is a plain text url better than an html hyperlink? Is a link to a one-click host better than one you can just right click and save as...? What about embedding content in a flash movie or iframe? Is that acceptable as long as it's hosted elsewhere?


    I should probably say that I haven't read the proposals in these bills, so my comments are more general than specific.

  • On the post: The Senators Who Say Merely Linking To Certain Sites Should Be A Felony

    alex ( profile ), 14 May, 2011 @ 09:15am

    Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Ok, yep. All good points...

    I'm stuck on this idea that links should be treated differently to other web content though. Links are part of the content of a web page. They shouldn't just be exempt (from takedown notices or whatever) if they point to a different server.

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