***
SSRN paper shows that revenues decrease with increasing levels of DRM.
***

TV Advertising is dead. Long live product placement. So if the real value of TV shows is cultural currency, why are we sacrificing our freedoms in a vain attempt to protect the profits of the copyright holders?

Microsoft persues more patents. Satisfied customers still elude them.

EFF on the IICA (née INDUCE Act).

Lessig on a substantial noninfringing use--one which just happens to fight the IICA.

Alternatives to RIAA music proliferate. With the miniscule chances of striking it rich as an artist and the tiny cost of producing an album digitally, it's about time this happened. All the money for most musicians is in ticket sales anyway.

A writer argues for the unimpeded progress of technology, even as he bemoans what it has done to music appreciation and hopes for even better technology in the future: "Its advantages were many, mostly unforseen. Actors learned their lines by Walkman on the bus into rehearsal. Splenetic executives used it for lunchtime meditation. I once heard Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony on a vertical Alpine train as a thunderstorm crashed all around. In unforgettable settings, music acquired unsuspected dimensions."

Big five down to big four.

--Ari

Apple takes the low road.

RIAA lawsuits likely futile in the long run.

And an impressive INDUCE Act roundup.

--Ari

More on the RIAA shutdown of a record store.

Yet another legitimate use of P2P networks. And another.

Ernest Miller on noncompetitive use and P2P, on iTunes on phones, and on a great public domain bestseller.

--Ari

Copyright as political bludgeon: some people's speech is protected, others' isn't.

Some P2P news. The RIAA wins a court victory. Some internet music stores are trying file sharing. And if you want to start your own internet radio station, a new service will let you.

DVRs are threatened by new laws, along with innovative technology like the HDLoader and digital audio receivers (which will be on the decline, apparently).

Meanwhile, the EU is starting to see that things have gone too far. And the Russians attack America at its own game.

--Ari

In a Letter to Senators, Education Groups Express Concern Over Proposed Copyright BillThree leading higher-education groups are warning U.S. lawmakers that a bill designed to stop illegal song- and movie-swapping on commercial networks, such as KaZaA and Grokster, could unleash a flood of frivolous lawsuits against colleges. (The Chronicle of Higher Education)

Lots of new technology that the Industry surely frowns upon:
Bluetooth audio, public Wifi becomes more available (thus making it harder to track infringers), high speed Internet spurs economic growth, and an MP3 player jacket.

A prediction that music sales will eventually reach only 12% of the music market by 2009--possible, if the locked-down offerings of today are continued.

There is hope, however, as parties outside the RIAA innovate. And again.

Meanwhile, terrorism safety is aided by a critical document being shared, while anti-terror laws are abused to prosecute a series fan for copyright infringement.

--Ari

The price of piracy: 691 settlements at $3000 apiece, divided by 60 million file sharers. Expected cost of P2P usage: $0.03. The price of P2P usage for political purposes is, apparently, much higher. Either way, it's getting harder to find filesharers, even as more legitimate uses of P2P emerge.

Real store to support iPod. If a similar "translation" were done to music, Industry would be outraged. iPod in trouble on other fronts as well.

The perils of the limited rights-grant which the RIAA/MPAA try to force Congress to embrace.

Meanwhile, the music industry has been found to be engaged in monopolistic behavior several times, yet they are shirking their obligation in the most recent price-fixing settlement.

Perhaps an overly-optimistic view of music sales websites.

Ted Turner on the reason the Industry is still alive today and hasn't been replaced by more entrepreneurial, innovative companies.

--Ari

Judge does Congress' job. Because Congress still hasn't learned. At least not all of Congress. Meanwhile, those supposed to protect the interests of the country fail to. And innovation suffers.

Alternative distribution channels expand, and other, already-established Internet distribution channels prove more useful. The Industry, however, is back to its old ways. And new technologies suffer. Nevertheless, the public domain advances, showing a glimpse of what the world could be like if only copyright were maintained at something approximating its original term.

--Ari

Another promising new technology should make a prime target for the INDUCE Act.

Software vs. Music.

INDUCing devices are big business.

Digital storage--"There is no long-term business model for digital archiving." DRM formats don't help anything, as they are proprietary and often-replaced.

Capitalism at its finest. And again.

--Ari

Mostly iPod news

Apple donates some iPods to Duke for incoming freshman class.

The birth of the iPod.

AirPort Express links computer back into stereo. ArsTechnica's review.

iMesh settles RIAA lawsuit. "As a part of the deal, iMesh has agreed to move to a business model that 'abides by U.S. copyright laws,' the RIAA said." In other news, iMesh 2.0 to offer half the features of iMesh 1.0, à la Napster.

--Ari

The BSA's obviously-too-high figure is debunked...by the very company that produced it.

What Napster 1.0 users have long known--internet downloads can introduce music beyond the typical radio fare.

New iPod.

Another possible INDUCE Act target for useful technology.

France buys the Industry line. As do more US colleges.

And then there were four.

Outrage over silly outragedmoderates.org plan.

Patents have ironically been holding back the spread of a key technology in the supposed 'battle' against illegal downloads.

--Ari

Another valuable use for P2P networks.

iTunes 'shores up its defenses' by becoming more like Napster 1.0. Plus ça change....

The new iPod.

INDUCE Act from Ernest Miller, the NYTimes.

The Walden Pond incident described here certainly shows how the government no longer looks towards societal good in cases of copyright.

US v Japanese strategies for dealing with wayward customers.

--Ari

Wouldn't it be funny if the 'anonymous donor' were an RIAA exec?

A gray area in when a work becomes copyrightable.

--Ari

eDonkey stays in NYC.



Once a patent is granted, it's there to stay, it seems, despite the steady flow of unfounded patents granted.



An example of what's been known before: the creators do not control the creation. The industries do.



Hatch's Hit List strikes gold. Priceless.



Good interview with a smart band.



--Ari

The music industry has created an education site for music educators. Unfortunately,as Doom9 points out, it lacks any information at all on Fair Use.



--Ari

A table showing the varying degrees of copyright protection, carved from the quirks of Congressional mood.

--Ari

Cries of illegal activity from an industry that has long embraced such activity in different forms.

Anti-circumvention technologies circumvented with only basic measures.

Article comments that those who are most against P2P have the most to benefit from its use.

Apple profits surge with iPod sales. Sony still locks down its products to assuage the (much less profitable) music arm.

eBay launches secondary market for music files. As the music property right becomes more established, it will be harder for the industry to impose restrictions on fair use.

The Register satirizes biased Industry polls.

--Ari

More analysis of the recent copy-permissive DRM.

Piracy can disqualify a film for an Oscar.

More Napster 1.0 lawsuits.

Legal movie downloads, coming soon to an unsuccessful legal music store near you.

--Ari

Movie and tech industries unite! They have nothing to lose but their DRM chains.

New RIAA chief already hard at work.

Another magic bullet bites the dust. Mixed metaphors still alive and well.

--Ari

Is Amazon.com becoming the Napster of the book business?

More Indie labels may appear on iTunes shortly.

--Ari

The power of the commons.
http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200~20950~2261047,00.html
http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/34264
Industry discovers the perils of attempting to centralize control of everything. Marx looks on unhappily from his grave.
Rudimentary study shows movies are now more popular than music.
More abuse of the DMCA.
Lawsuits prove ineffective, after all.
Adding lyrics and other additional content finally makes purchased files more useful than P2P'ed files.

--Ari

A case study of what has already been inferred from various statistical studies...P2P has a marketing effect, just like radio.

P2P hits eCommerce.

With the Big Five merging to Big Three, this may be even more common soon.

Sony once exercised a little restraint.

More avant-garde approaches in P2P software hit mainstream.

The darker side of P2P. Unfortunately, this will be harder to enforce with most P2P networks making moves to obscure user identities. When regulations are sane, then legitimate activities need not go underground. Once they do, they enable other, less-legitimate persuits to be carried out more easily.

--Ari

Wonderful article.

http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/002015.shtml
Wonderful article.

http://research.yale.edu/lawmeme/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1535
http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200407/s1149743.htm
http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040712ta_talk_surowiecki
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3869137.stm

http://www.economist.co.uk/business/displayStory.cfm?story_id=2886335
But how will this vision come to be with DRM everywhere?

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/02/business/media/02studio.html?pagewanted=all

--Ari

Misc. links

http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64033,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000635.html
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000634.html
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,116791,00.asp
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/07/bsa_software_piracy_study/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/06/cd_sales_rebound/

--Ari

More misc. posts

http://digitalmusic.weblogsinc.com/entry/7291865875353843/
http://www.computerweekly.com/articles/article.asp?liArticleID=131747&liArticleTypeID=13&liCategoryID=2&liChannelID=28&liFlavourID=1&sSearch=&nPage=1
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/180830_betting06.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/arts/news/story/0,11711,1254105,00.html
$10 for a no-frills CD. They still don't quite get it. The movie industry regularly sells $10 full-frills (but not special-edition) DVD's, and I saw a few still-under-copoyright classics the other day for $6.50 .

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/03/arts/music/03ALBU.html?pagewanted=all
Album sales versus GDP...correlation is perhaps higher than album sales vs. downloads....

http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimes/newsst/newsst1088772089.asp

--Ari

Misc. posts

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/02/java_and_drm/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/01/apple_itunes_giveaway/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/01/canada_isp_ruling/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/01/sony_hd_walkman/
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/07/01/fax_back_against_induce/
http://www.eff.org/news/archives/2004_06.php
http://www.lessig.org/blog/archives/001993.shtml
http://www.lessig.org/archives/2004_06.shtml#002004
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000630.html
http://www.freedom-to-tinker.com/archives/000628.html
http://www.boalt.org/biplog/archive/000600.html
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/04/1417250
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/04/arts/music/04KAPL.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3854261.stm

--Ari

A large dump after a week's vacation

http://slashdot.org/articles/04/07/04/0249245.shtml?tid=126&tid=141&tid=187&tid=188&tid=95
http://www.eff.org/broadcastflag/
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040701/INTERNET01/TPNational/TopStories
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64063,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64059,00.html?tw=rss.TOP Will Sony be able to see that the profit in the Walkman is many times greater than the profit in Sony Music?
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64038,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,64013,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,63982,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,64000,00.html?tw=rss.TOP
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64005,00.html?tw=rss.TOP

--Ari