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RIAA Attacks Sites Participating in Its Own Campaign
Posted by
Zonk
on Thu Apr 05, 2007 09:27 AM
from the need-to-get-your-stories-straight-here-guys dept.
from the need-to-get-your-stories-straight-here-guys dept.
An anonymous reader writes "The RIAA is once again at their old tricks. The band Nine Inch Nails has intentionally 'leaked' songs via USB keys hidden at restrooms during their current European tour. Sites hosting the songs are now being sent cease and desist orders. 'Ironically, with its numerous pirated downloads available, the whole album has not leaked yet. According to a source, the only leaks are the ones Reznor approved himself. And whether he realizes it or not, Reznor may be building a new option for presenting music that augments the existing CD/tour scenario.'"
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Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Zonk is missing on all cylinders today, why does he still get to be an editor?
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
"who owns these songs? I rather suspect it isn't the artists any more."
I don't know the details of NIN's contract, but generally the people who wrote the words and music own the words and music, and the people who funded and produced the recording own the recording.
There are several record labels for which SOP is for the artists to own the masters, but -- and this is very important -- the artist must pay for and arrange for the production of those masters themselves. Magnatunes comes to mind here, but
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Interesting)
That is as much theft as anything that consumer pirates do.
Now the RIAA is trying to interfere with one of it's artists that has realized that pirates are a damn good distribution medium. This situation simply highlights the fact that artists have no real control over their work anymore. Those with the most valuable creative contribution are actually being exploited and abused by the very body that loudly proclaims to protect musicians.
There is also fair use and the actual artists intent to consider.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
"Current works are built of previous works as a matter of necessity. So calling music distributors thieves is not simply "hot headed". It's simply taking EVERYTHING into account. People build on the works of others and the expect exclusive ownership."
They expect exclusive ownership of the recordings which they produce. The artist maintains the copyright on the words and music, assuming that they wrote them. There's a big difference between a piece of paper with some words on it, and a finished recording
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Informative)
Parent
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
They sure do have a choice. Unlike trademarks, copyright does not become suddenly void because you did not prosecute infringements (except possibly in some fringe situations, but in this case there's definitely no danger of that happening).
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Insightful)
back to 1970. Copyright registration needs to be made mandatory
again along with copyright notices. If something is not intended
for distribution, it should say so. Their should be no presumption
that the RIAA can come and bully you.
If a copy isn't sitting in the Library of Congress and copyable by
the Librarian of Congress, then it should be treated as public domain.
Parent
Re:Huh? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Huh? (Score:4, Informative)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There is a legitimate question of ownership here so the parent is not off base. If Trent owned the songs, he can do as he wishes. But if the record company owned them, he is not allowed to distribute them. The sad reality is that most bands have to give up their copyrights to the record company to get their first record deals. That's why some of the early Beatles songs are owned by Michael Jackso
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
"The sad reality is that most bands have to give up their copyrights to the record company to get their first record deals. That's why some of the early Beatles songs are owned by Michael Jackson and not the Beatles themselves."
Not hardly. The Beatles were making too much money on royalties and were losing 90% of their income to taxes (the UK does not, or at least did not, have the caps on personal income tax that US residents enjoy). So, they formed Northern Songs as a corporation to manage the publish
Re:I think you're the confused one (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
There's also a difference between "a USB key with a song or two on it", and a string of left behind songs on USB sticks that are part of a campaign that the label signed off on.
I think that once it's clear that the artist is doing it on purpose, on a digital medium, in 2007, with the label's permission - that's implicit license to share it with everybody over the 'Net to your heart's content.
Re:I think you're the confused one (Score:4, Interesting)
Similarly, if NIN intentionally lose USB sticks with some songs from their unreleased album, how could the finder be expected to know or verify that the mp3 is actually a real NIN mp3 and copyrighted? Call Trent?
At what stage does a song that is sung become a copyrighted song?
Parent
You keep using that word... (Score:5, Insightful)
Tool did it differently (Score:5, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Security Standpoint (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
check here http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/06/08/21
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
But then again, its nothing new [schneier.com]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Unfortunately, neither one of these is something that can be changed.
Re:Security Standpoint (Score:4, Insightful)
Really? How many viruses can be transmitted through simply mounting a drive? Of those, how many are very dangerous? Of those, how many will go undetected by antivirus software?
I'm generally pretty cautious, but I think that I'd plug a USB drive into my computer without being sure what was on it. I wouldn't necessarily run any programs on that drive, but I'd be willing to risk plugging it in. You wouldn't?
It just doesn't seem like a great attach vector for spreading malware en masse.
Parent
RIAA (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:RIAA (Score:5, Funny)
There's a special place in Hell for the RIAA. Right next to politicians and people who make reality shows.
Is that anywhere near the special place reserved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre?
Parent
"found" USB keys (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously, USB key, or, really, anything else, who is taking things they find lying around (in bathrooms!) and putting them in their computers?
This might just give script kiddies the idea of a brand new way to start spreading worms...
I'm not sure if i'm trying to be serious or gross, here, but i do know i would not be putting a found USB key in any box of mine (esp. if it is running windows...)
Similarly, what kind of format are these being left in? MP3? WMA? something with some nasty DRM?
Re:"found" USB keys (Score:5, Funny)
As if you wouldn't. You know, deep down, some little voice is in the back of your head saying "There might be something embarrasing for the owner of this key on here..."
Parent
Re:"found" USB keys (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
USB Flash Drive RISKS (Score:5, Insightful)
1/ A security company was contracted to do a pentration test of a bank.
2/ The employees found out, so were being aware of typical social engineering type situations
3/ The security company loaded up some special USB keys that had had key logger and other software on them
4/ 15 to 20 of said keys were scattered around the door of the bank prior to opening hours
5/ With 3 days something like 75% of the keys had phoned home and were reporting that they were connected to computers inside the bank.
After reading this scenario I realised that if I saw a stray USB key I would just plug it in to see what was on it - and I would have fallen for the same trap as the bank employees
Another scenario I heard of (also on RISKS I think) was to go to the front desk of a company, ask to use the bathroom (or toilet for the rest of us), and leave a CD in a prominant location that was clearly labelled with something like "Staff reductions". It wouldn't take very long before that CD was inserted into someones computer at that company.
Re:USB Flash Drive RISKS (Score:4, Insightful)
After reading this scenario I realized that if I plugged it into my Linux box, that I would see the contents of the filesystem, and not be infected unless there was a buffer overflow and the USB key's filesystem had been maliciously crafted as well. But that seems unlikely.
You could also disable autorun... But I never do, either. It's too handy. (I use Windows to run a couple programs.)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Fixed.
Re:USB Flash Drive RISKS (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
I actually looked this up a while ago. The short answer is yes, Windows will indeed auto-run a USB flash drive. The longer answer is that making it auto-run a flash drive involves some special setup of the USB drive, so if you just dump an autorun.inf file onto a USB flash drive nothing will happen.
Windows will only auto-run media that marks itself as "fixed" when it's queried. You can find details in this FAQ from Microsoft [microsoft.com]. (Note: there's no direct anchor to the question, so you'll need to scroll up two
Reminds me a rabid dog (Score:4, Interesting)
RIAA reminds more of a rabid dog: Biting at friend and foe alike. An unreasoning animal with no clear objective.
I'm not sure what strategy they're pursuing, but it's not working. One wonders why member companies continue funding an organization that frequently acts against their membership's best interests and frequently paints them in a bad light. It's just astounding to me how poorly RIAA performs their task and how ineffective in achieving their objectives. And they don't seem to learn anything from past failures. It's like a corporate version of the Bush administration.
Don't sell Rez short - he knows his marketing... (Score:5, Interesting)
Um...you really think Rez's leaking songs for something other than to augment his gravy train (CD/tour)? No, like most people trying to make a living in entertainment, he's picked up some marketing savvy along the way, and is using the same "try before you buy" technique that also works when selling software, illegal drugs and laundry detergent.
The story about dropping USBs in the shitter is just a brilliant way to get even more free press: a band putting their B-sides on its web site is already quite common and won't get its story...
Nothing new (Score:3, Informative)
USB + MP3 + concert.
Not to take away from Trent, big fan of his and the 'Ladies.
Any Publicity is Good Publicity (Score:5, Insightful)
It seems like the marketing brilliance of this entire scenario is being missed by a lot of people here. How much publicity would NIN gotten without the RIAA enforcement? Would we be having this discussion, for instance? This seems like a well-orchestrated stunt, and color me impressed.
How do you suppose the RIAA discovered this infringement?
If they didn't like the marketing campaign... (Score:4, Informative)
Trent Reznor has put the full album up on the official website for promotional purposes.
http://yearzero.nin.com/ [nin.com]
(no reg: http://yearzero.nin-thespiral.com/FLJoi4gjw2f/pla
This is the first RIAA-produced album I'm considering breaking my boycott for. First, because it's very good, and secondly, because even if they may get some profit from it, the message to them should be very clear.
Bad article (Score:3, Informative)
Ironically, the album did leak.. (Score:4, Insightful)
...(probably) between when this article was submitted and now (here [demonoid.com]).
But, because Trent GETS IT, it looks like they had a player already lined up, and you can legally listen to the album here [nin-thespiral.com] (I bet Rob can't wait to get slashdotted :)
Of course the album will leak before it hits the shops. The RI(fucking)AA haven't a clue how to use this to increase sales, so they run around like a headless chicken. Trent decided that since it was going to happen anyway, he might as well be in control as much as possible as to what gets released and when. Makes perfect sense to me from a marketing perspective.
Not only all that, but this album is the best in over a decade (IMHO) - look out for "Vessel" and "The Great Destroyer" (complete with a token nod to The Prophet's Song by Queen :) I think that TGD can best be summed up by (stolen from ETS [echoingthesound.org]), "I AM THE GREAT DESTOYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEER-BOOOM-ZOING-BOOOOM-ZOING- BOOOM, CUURr OAOOOOWWW TING TING BOW!" - yep, the noise is back :)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, you don't have to agree to a copyright agreement to be bound by copyright law. The law serves as a sort of default set of rules that you must follow if, for example, you don't agree with the EULA on your newly-purchased software. That's what makes the GPL work, because if you don't agree to abide by the terms of the GPL, then the default - that being copyright law - applies, which forbids you from making c
Re:This is a matter of point of view (Score:5, Insightful)
If I find a copy of a book, I can't distribute copies of it. If I find a CD, I can't distribute copies of the CD.
Copyright is coded into law and does not depend on any sort of contract.
Who modded this interesting??
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:This is a matter of point of view (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Re:was part of an alternate reality game (Score:5, Informative)
Much of it is actually fairly brilliant, the Wikipedia article [wikipedia.org] is worth a once-over if you haven't been following things. I'm especially impressed with the fact that they hid a picture in the spectrogram of one of the songs.
Which brings me back to this article.. NIN wasn't just leaking music tracks, they were distributing clues which were part of this whole ARG thing. As such, they were obivously counting on the tracks being further distributed, unless they really believed that the one person who picked up the USB stick in the bathroom would just happen to be a steganography buff or whatever. People were supposed to throw these tracks around and analyse the crap out of them.
Parent
Re: (Score:3, Funny)