NY District Court Supports RIAA In Case Regarding Kazaa; Vague, Hulking Menace of Copyright Law Gradually Lumbering This Way, We Might Want to Move In a Few Years
By Joe B. on Apr 9 2008
On March 31, a federal District Court in New York provided “specific language” for labels to use when suing someone who didn’t necessarily share files per se, but merely placed them in a context in which they’re allowed to be shared.
Basically: A lady got sued in August 2005 for having 600 MP3s in her Kazaa shared folder. The woman, along with the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Computer & Communications Industry Association, filed briefs saying, “Wait, guys, you don’t have any proof that these files were shared, just that they were in a shared folder.”
Copyright law regulates “publication,” which has a fancy legal definition wherein you distribute something by selling it or giving it away or lending it or whatever. The labels were accusing the woman of making a work available for “distribution,” which is a situation copyright law that hadn’t really been tackled yet.
Now I’m beginning to understand why this has taken so long.
The District Court spent over two-and-a-half years doing something, then issued a statement at the end of last month agreeing with the labels and alleging that, from a digital copyright law standpoint, “publication” and “distribution” are synonymous. An 11-year-old could have probably told you that the two words mean pretty much the same thing, of course, but from a legal standpoint, this provides a tiny little hole through which the RIAA can continue its string of large-figure lawsuits against just about everybody.
According to the new ruling, it’s kosher to sue for "offer(ing) to distribute copies or phonorecords (MP3s) to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution." Having files in a shared folder can be considered a tacit kind of offering, so here we are. People don’t use Kazaa anymore, but I could see this eventually affecting FTPs or, really, just about any method of transferring files from one computer to another. Of course, as long as legal proceedings move at about one-millionth the pace of file-sharing technology, piracy will probably reign. Woo.
It’s A Cruel, Cruel Summer: Sunn O))) Dude’s New Project Coming Out on Southern Lord
By Liz Louche on Apr 8 2008
I used to have this friend who was obsessed with the Southern Lord label. He would talk non-stop about bands on Southern Lord that I had never heard of. He would bring me to shows by other Southern Lord bands I had never heard of, which he promised would be "awesome" and "incredible." Oftentimes, he was right, but holy shit was this stuff degrading my self-esteem, because we both worked at a record store together. And like most record store employees, I did not want to admit that there could be record labels and entire genres of bands that I knew almost nothing about.
So, this one goes out to you, friend, who introduced me to Sunn O))). Here's a story for you, all the people like you, and all the people like me who hate to claim ignorance about a good thing. In this case, that "good thing" is ASCEND, a new project out on Southern Lord. It features Greg Anderson of Goatsnake, Engine Kid, and Sunn O))) along with Gentry Densley of Iceburn and Eagle Twin. The new album hits stores May 27, 2008 and promises to bring its share of the ominous, heavy jams needed for a killer summer. It features guest performances from pals like Soundgarden's Kim Thayil, Steve Moore of Earth and Sunn O))), and Andy Patterson. But that's not all -- there will also be Wurlitzer organs on this thing! It doesn't get much more rock ‘n’ roll than organs, am I right?
Comcast Admits to Secret Love Affair with BitTorrent
By 8bit on Apr 8 2008
Great duos:
Wait wait wait. Comcast and BitTorrent?! Yes, according to The Wall Street Journal, internet service provider (ISP) giant Comcast will be working with the torrent protocol developers over at BitTorrent, Inc. in an effort to move video content more efficiently through its network.
Comcast has been at odds with the torrent community since August 2007, when it was reported that the ISP was blocking torrent traffic, causing net neutrality proponents to shit their pants. Comcast later issued a press release stating, "Torrents are destroying our network. In the near future, all of our bandwidth will be consumed by a protocol dedicated to illegal file-sharing. And that will leave no bandwidth for Joseph Goldbottom's Bar Mitzah Evite. And imagine how ka'ab Joseph will feel when nobody shows up to his manning party?"
No word yet as to any specifics of the agreement or what could possibly come out of it.
Avant Music Fans In Anticipation of the Bent Festival: “Don’t Put Me In Your Box Unless It’s Disassembled And Filled With Frayed Sparking Wires!”
By Joseph Coscarelli on Apr 8 2008
If this year's festival lineups seem a little vanilla for your taste, and the prospect of moshing along to "Guerilla Radio" with an aged Rage Against the Machine doesn't spark your interest, perhaps the fifth annual Bent Festival of circuit bending is more your style. What the hell is circuit bending? Well, straight from the experts, "Circuit Bending is short-circuiting battery-powered sound making devices to create new musical instruments," and this year's festival will take place in Los Angeles (April 17-19), New York City (April 24-27), and Minneapolis (May 1-3). LA performances will take place at Zero-Point and the California Plaza, NYC at The Tank, and Minneapolis at Intermedia Arts (mere blocks from Mr P's house).
All shows start at 7 PM and are completely free, with small fees for those interested in participating in afternoon workshops and zapping some wires of their own. Artists performing who are guaranteed to impress your friends in skill and obscurity include:
Dosh Finally Escapes From Andrew Bird’s Clutches Long Enough To Record Fourth Solo Album
By Annapocalypse on Apr 8 2008
Back Story: For the past year, our hero, Martin Dosh, has been held captive by a certain violin-playing, mouth-whistling, guitar-slinging villain, better known as Andrew Bird, or The Birdman, if you will. Against poor Dosh’s will, The Birdman allegedly forced him to tour around the country (And Europe and Australia too! Gasp!) playing drums and keyboard in his backing band. Word has it that the Birdman even resorted to pecking the defenseless Dosh in the face if he even mentioned anything about his own solo career. How dreadful!
Present Day: It appears with the help of some of his anticon. labelmates, Dosh has managed to escape The Birdman’s evil clutches. Yoni Wolf of WHY? (a.k.a The Wolfman) and Adam Drucker of Subtle (a.k.a. Doseone) were seen breaking into The Birdman’s tour bus while he sat perched asleep inside his cage. The Wolfman howled at Dosh, signaling to him that he was safe and it was time to go. Doseone grabbed Dosh’s shakey hand, and the two heroes led him out of the bus and back to anticon.'s Oakland, California hideout.
Conclusion: The Birdman has decreed on message boards across the land that he will seek revenge on Dosh, but for now, it seems that Dosh is safe from the evil beak of The Birdman and able to focus on his fourth solo album, Wolves and Wishes, due out May 13 on anticon.
The tracklisting is as follows:
Tune in next week to see if The Birdman finds out where Dosh is hiding! Will he wreck havoc on the anticon. offices? Will he ruin Dosh’s CD release party? Stay tuned to Tiny Mix Tapes for all the action!
