By , March 09, 2012.

Behind the music: Why artists mustn’t be drawn into an MP3 site’s legal fight — “Is it in the best interests of musicians to help the founder of an online music locker in his copyright battle with EMI?” asks songwriter and Guardian columnist Helienne Lindvall. Her answer is an unequivocal “no.”

How The Swedes Fight Piracy — Highly recommended article from Justin Colletti over at Trust Me I’m a Scientist. “Recent developments in Sweden, Holland, and across the globe seem to fly in the face of one of the loudest arguments we’ve heard from big technology companies regarding the protection of artists’ rights. … It turns out that, while challenging, it may not be impossible to enforce artists’ rights on the web after all.”

Copyright bill creates a legal rift — The National Post reports on a scandal involving Canadian copyleftist Michael Geist. More from John Degen in his post The CBA’s Unweeded Garden and Chris Castle in Dissembling on Factiness Six Times Before Breakfast: Is the Geist Scandal Widening?

In Plain English: A Quick Guide to DMCA Takedown Notices — Artists and creators may appreciate this helpful guide from the Copyright Alliance on dealing with online infringement.

Why the Web Hasn’t Hurt TV — Doesn’t really explain why, but this brief article does provide some charts showing that while broadcast audiences have declined over the past two decades, television advertising dollars have not.

People are Actually Buying Music Again — The Consumerist reports on the latest annual report from the NPD Group, giving good news to musicians. Recent increases in music purchasing come as illegal downloading continues to decrease.

Future of Copyright Contest — Check out this contest currently seeking submissions on the topic of the future of copyright (cash prize!). Submissions will be judged by Michael Geist and Piotr Czerski of the We, the Web Kids manifesto, and I assume most of the submissions will have an anti-copyright bent to them. But that doesn’t necessarily have to be so, right? Deadline is April 15th.

3 Comments

  1. Some strange set of links you got there. I recall reading an article about content industry is dying just last week. I guess this week the content industry is great or something.

    To be honest, I’m not seeing the reason to be against that new Canadian copyright bill, because it weakens copyright in important places. And really, the parts that strengthen copyright will just get ignored by the populace like it always does. So if it passes, great. If it doesn’t, whatever.

  2. “Recent developments in Sweden, Holland, and across the globe seem to fly in the face of one of the loudest arguments we’ve heard from big technology companies regarding the protection of artists’ rights. … It turns out that, while challenging, it may not be impossible to enforce artists’ rights on the web after all.”

    How’s that secret raid of the Pirate Bay going?

    Maybe just a little bit more enforcing will show that they aren’t doing anything wrong.

    • For the life of me I cannot figure out what point, if any, is being made with the above comment.