Slashdot Mirror
MP3s In Foreign Countries
KirTakat writes: "We see lots of links to information about MP3s in America (by this I mean most English speaking countries, which seems to be the major readership on Slashdot), and how they are being handled legally and the such, but how are they affecting other countries? Are they even mentioned in the news, or is the legal aspect of MP3s pretty much an American thing?" Maybe some readers can describe how the "music on the internet" debate has gone in other areas of the world.
There have never been any copyright laws. The television stations broadcast pirated movies.
So I guess the 10,000 or so people who have internet access don't have any problems with downloading or using mp3s.
-J.
If you believe the Judeo-Christian creation myth (Garden of Eden, Adam & Eve, etc) then surely we are all related.
Now I can give a copy of any CD to anyone, because we share great-to-the-nth grandparents.
This sig left unintentionally blank.
The good thing about the ad-campaign (with lots of prime-time TV spots) against MP3 files, was that the Danish RIAA-equivalent really came out as the bad guys who were going after children. They already pulled every dirty trick in the book (paying kids to turn in other kids, scanning the newsgroups for the work MP3 and spamming anyone who mentioned it woth threats of lawsuits, suing kids who *linked* to pages where you could download MP3's, and trying to bully the ISP's to block access to MP3 files).
The TV ads made the general public aware of what they did, and probably helped change the law so that making digital copies are now allowed in some circumstances.
Every album that comes out in Taiwan, Hong Kong and the PRC is available on mp3, and most music videos are available as realmedia files.
Most interesting about the Chinas is that they use websites to distribute mp3s and don't need to rely on things like napster. Good sites are mirrored in their entirety in several places, a lot like sunsite.
Their governments appear to leave them alone, so there is none of the direct linking and voting popup rubbish that we have here in the English speaking world.
cdjmp3 is a good example of a popular mainland mp3 site with many mirrors. (GB encoded)
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
So if, for example, an EMI executive spots some "pirated" mp3's on your website, what does he do? Email Jiang Zemin and threaten him with a lawsuit?
Really, I think you're probably ok. That's why HK mp3 (and warez and movie) sites are doing so well right now.
"Reactionaries must be deprived of the right to voice their opinions; only the people have that right." - Mao
http://www.modernhumorist.com/mh/0011 /mp 3/
:)
I have the communism one hanging over my bed
--
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
I live in Reykjavik, Iceland, and it has become very popular for Icelandic musical artists to have websites that contain the most popular songs on their CD releases...this has been done by several prominent local artists such as Quarashi, Bubbi Morthens and many others. I think this is a very clever move that actually boosts local sales.
What? how can you possibly compete with the quality of the Spice Girls, 5ive, West Life or Steps? Admit it, when it comes to music the UK leads the world.
How do they know, for the sake of argument, whether you downloaded copyrighted music, as opposed to public domain music or music that has been authorized for free distribution by the copyright holder?
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
I'd be very interested to know the legal situation regarding MP3 encoders etc. in the UK (and other countries). In which countries are various patents valid?
I'm not interested in stealing music, but I would like to encode MP3s of music I own (is that legal in the UK?) on my PC to produce a random access jukebox.
Gerv
Hey now.. that's only in British Columbia. :)
Hah! Always read the small print.
15 pounds gets you unlimited local calls OFFPEAK (6pm-8am, and all weekend).
But. After 60 minutes of the call, it starts charging. (You're "free" to hang up and dial again, says the literature, but that's no good if you're in the middle of downloading Mozilla).
--Remove SPAM from my address to mail me
SVM Macintosh did an article this month.
Legal if you own the source CD and you use the MP3 in the familly circle (guess that if you can prove you are someones 42 cousin by marrage it's OK...).
Else illegal under copyright law.
realkiwi
hosting music without paying off the record companies (which may or may not actually pay the people whose music is being distributed an approriate amount of money, or at all) is illegal, and the temporary arrangement seems to have been suspended. I use the word 'paying off' judiciously; it's obviously a bribe to get them off your back -- if you host anything other than top-40 MP3s the artists are unlikely to actually get paid for what is know in Dutch as 'author's rights' (as opposed to copyright).
Recently VPRO radio had to pull all the Sony owned music from their programming since they store all of their programs, available for streaming, on their website (weeding out Sony songs and edit them out of the streams was just too much work).
The other big 4 (soon to be 3) record companies are, of course, following suit.
--
SCO employee? Check out the bounty
Well I know that Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario couldn't care less about MP3 trading, since I haven't heard a single peep in the 3 years I was there... of course, since most people are using cable modems and not the internal network (which sucks), then that might account for something...
Also, Carleton University in Ottawa seems to have not said anything (at least publicly) for the year I've been there. *shrug* Ditto for my friend in University of Waterloo (although they cut down bandwith allowance quite a bit recently, so that may mean something).
> The local version of RIAA ran an and campaign
> last year, witj slogans like: "How many lawyers > can fit it to your child's bedroom."
They also had slogans like "It's not illegal to buy a buy a CD-R drive. It's also not illegal to buy a ski mask".
The funny part was, though, the one time it was posted right next to an ad for the Phillips CD-copier...
The record indutry in Denmark is quite strict. Last year, some poor 14 year-old was sued for well over $100k just for *linking* to mp3's from his web-site. I think he walked, though
Just a couple of months ago, the dorm I live in, and a bunch of others, were "bullied" into paying a bunch of money to the industry, because somebody had gone in and taken *screenshots* of shared directories under windows. ('scuse me, 1) give me an hour and the gimp, and I'll give you a screenshot of anything, 2) If I want to have a file 3934729 bytes long called "Madonna - Music.mp3", isn't that perfectly legal).
But we decided to settle, bacause we knew it was all too true (There were shitloads of MP3's) and there was no way in hell we could win a suit, much less pay what they asked in the first place.
You can feel that this whole thing is a first-timer for the record industry. They're gonna experience a major change in the way they do business, and they know it.
In Norway it is permitted to make copies of copyrighted works for personal use (Exceptions exist for computer software and databases). Personal use means copies for yourself and/or friends and family. Practically this means you can make copies of your music and hand out to a few friends. You can _not_ put up an mp3 on an open web-server (unless you own it's contents).
As for enfocement. TONO (our equivalent to RIAA) haven't been to active in the media (possibly because they are currently more occupied by infighting and accusations of corruption of their execs). However mp3 servers operating too openly will likely recieve a ceace and desist fairly soon.
buma is complaining currently about napster.nl offering links to mp3s. send email to
pieter.haringsma@buma.nl to tell him what you think.. (politely).
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
You must realize that most of this mind set is due to the limited worldwide knowledge of events in the American Culture. This can be attributed to a centrifical media mind set driven to "make the buck". Most public television stations (and newspapers too) rarely cover international subjects. The fact that we have to pay for programs such as CNN is only indicative of the segragative system instore in this culture.
This trend has been transversing into the WWW medium as big advertising and marketing companies have been taking notice it. Unfortunately those ad companies mistake this medium as a national one instead of what is really is: a global communications tool.
There are few or no laws regarding anything that is digital. The Telecomunication act treats data networks as phone networks. Computers, internet and mp3's are NOT covered by any law. You can buy mp3 and DivX:-) cd's at the corner of the street. (and also loads of pirated software) as long as they are not music cd's which must have some glowing sticker - no problemo with the police :)
:)
The MS-BSA guys are going only after big companies and the cover strictly MS products.
Ph33r the 34573rN 3ur0p3 w4r3z d00d2 !!!
--
1% APY, No fees, Online Bank https://captl1.co/2uIErYq Don't let your $$$ sit in a no-interest acct.
Swedish Court Clears Teen for Linking to MP3s
Swedish Supreme Court MP3 Ruling
All opinions are my own - until criticized
1) Most other countries have a smaller percentage of the population owning computers. Thus it's a smaller issue.
2) Most other countries don't seem to have flat rate plans for internet access as is common (even expected) in the US. Furthermore, local calls in the US are free (modulo your monthly bill). Downloading MP3s is thus more expensive, and hence less commonplace (and less of an issue).
3) Piracy is more commonplace in many other countries, since the US economy is comparatively
strong. Thus it's less of an issue.
--
Chris Long, Departments of Mathematics & Statistics, Rutgers University
San Diego Padres, 100 Park Blvd, San Diego CA 92101
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by
I really think they are waiting to see what happens to the RIAA before making noise. Australia seems to follow the US fairly closely when it comes to technology issues (encryption etc). I'm not sure why (probably some treaty), and I can tell you I get *very* frustrated that we aren't more proactive in these things.
Better stop before I start ranting :)
Can you post a frequency for these two stations? I live in sydney and would love to here FBI (I'm guessing that they don't have full licences?)
I'm not saying it shouldn't exist just that it's no where near the nirvana or radio that a lot of people to think it is :-)
I can see your point, but they do a lot of counrty broadcasting which is great for people in remote areas (and why they get my loyalty (and I hate commercial advertising)). Before I moved to sydney I lived in a couple different country towns, and all you get is AM talkback, AM "great hits from the '60s '70 and '80s" and ABC clasical. If I was lucky, I could get triple j, and then none of the dials on my radios would move :)
mp3's are alive and well in South Africa
As for the issues, yes, they exist, radio stations have mentioned them, they've been on TV, people who have access to the net download them.
We have extensive piracy over here, but from a population point of view, it's no biggy when compared to say, eastern european / asian countries.
Put it this way, no one is getting arrested for storing or making mp3 files available - I've found tons of them on some of main ISP's ftp servers !
I think we've got a little more to worry about than that - education for one !
There's an estimated 2.5 million web users in the Whole of Africa - that's a tiny figure
I'd say South Africa probably has about 1.5 million of those users, yet our population is around 45 million, IOW, less than 3% of our population is aware/has access to the internet, so mp3 files are hardly an issue over here !
A slashdotting - you get the stick first and then the carrot !
First off I'll correct the type, it's Kosheen, and is Decoder & Substance's vocal side project, you can find their releases on the Moksha label if I'm not mistaken. A full album is either already out now or due out soon, I forget exactly, but I've seen mp3's of it floating around already. Secondly, 100 to 1 the word promo is involved. Promo CD. Promo vinyl. Test press vinyl. DJ got friendly and lent a dubplate they ripped to mp3. It could be an mp3 from say.. sour (an mp3 ripping group specializing in drum'n'bass) I suppose, but I'm just saying it's far more likely that it's the radio station getting a promo to build up more hype for the track (that thing really did blow up). Happens all the time. It's sort of sad to say this, but all too often tracks blow up and get real popular WAAAAAY before they are available due to the dubplate way of life. Like.. Konflict - Messiah. Or... anything from the Cybotron 2000 album. Just my 2 cents.
On the other hand, we're paying a CD-R tax to give to Canadian recording artists.
... but not ONE SINGLE SONG EVER has been by a Canadian recording artist signed to a label, who are the only people getting any.
Now, that REALLY frosts my ass. Sure, 95% of my CD-Rs are for pirating music
These stations are mainly spoken word or specialist music, but they do play music. They appear to have some form of MP3 system, as they are able to play songs by request if they are in their on-line library of around 1000 tracks. I may be able to visit the studio in the future to see how this works in practice.
This being the BBC, everything is 100% legal. The BBC have always adapted to new technology. They used to store their old vinyl collection on DAT, and broadcast a lot of their in-house recordings from MD (as opposed to proper tape a few years ago.).
There is a Russian band called "Neschastniy Sluchai" which is really kewl. They got a website, and you can listen/download all their songs for all the alboms in .ra or .mp3 formats. Quality is good as well.
As you can see, some people don't rely that much on the laws, but give you the choice. If I were still living in Russia I would go and buy their alboms, not burn them.
This practice is not uncommon, many famous Russian bands have mp3s available for downloads on their website. There is a great deal of piracy in Russia, if you go and try to buy an albom, there is a 50% chance that that albom is not original. So I guess they just think that giving people the mp3s would not hurt more.
http://dtum.livejournal.com
Over here it's not particularly a worry, ofcourse, the association of record companies is slightly pissed as you'll understand, but media attention is limited to a couple of small comments on page 30+ of papers once every couple of weeks.
The internet as a whole isn't subject to much scrutiny in Holland actually, Holland as most people will know is a very liberal country, and unless you do something absolutely disgusting noone really minds.
I firmly believe that the internet should stay uncensored, the reason the internet has gotten this big and thios popular is because you can access ANY piece of information you want, without having to ask anyone or having to do a lot of work to get it.
Censorship in general keeps people stupid, the more you limit the informationflow and manipulate it, the more you go towards creating unthinking zombies who live, eat, sleep and breathe with the ideas that the ruling bodies want them to have.
---- Stage 5 of drinking : Politics begin to appeal
In the UK there are essentially two bodies who goven music licencing. They are the MCPS and the PRS. They will both charge UK music users if they publish audio on the web that requires a licence (for eg, music not owned by the publisher although there are other exceptions) however the PRS state on their website that software such as Napster is not to blame because they are not the content providers..
Where there is broadband available in the UK the amount of mp3 swapping between individuals can be very high. Take the University that I attend as an example. On the residential network (the network running around student halls of residence) the number of people sharing mp3's via Microsoft Networking is very high indeed and that doesn't take into account those people who set up their own FTP servers and alike. Software like Napster and websites that publish links to mp3 files just make it easier for people to share and download music whether it has been authorised by the copyright holder or not. If these services did not exist then the semi-underground movement of sharing mp3's (or bootleg tapes, or CD's, or any other form of music carrying media) would continue.
Another good website which deals with copyright issues within the UK is run by the Copyright Licensing Agency. Although it is a bit backward with regards to specific information on digital and Internet copyright issues it does give the raw facts.
--Dan.
>I can't say the response in Canada to MP3s has been too much different in nature than the US, although it's probably less heavy-handed.
In much the same way that our response to Marijauna and other mild narcotics has been much less heavy-handed than our good neighbours to the south, eh?
(For those not schooled in Canadian politics, there is about a 50/50 chance that Marijauna will be legalized in Canada within the next federal term, which becomes significantly greater for the one thereafter. It is already to the point where somebody can be stopped by a cop with 30g of the stuff, and get off with a warning, provided it isn't divided into portions.)
If you believe everything you read, you'd better not read. - Japanese proverb
I'd echo those comments for Australia. It's a bit annoying when some case in the US affects what you can do here...sort of ironic that a medium supposed to cross borders and remove international boundaries has had the opposite effect in this case(or at least the potential to). Then again, if those servers were in Aus and the parent company was here..... our artists are busy fighting 'grey import' laws for cd's so I'm sure they'd have some say. The biggest problem we'd face down here is whatever Murdoch and Packer's opinion on the subject was would form itself into a federal law to protect their interests..the price you pay for idiotic media ownership laws that let rich media barons run the place.
I can't say the response in Canada to MP3s has been too much different in nature than the US, although it's probably less heavy-handed.
Isn't it like a law or something that one out of every four songs traded on Napster in Canada has to be by a Canadian artist?
then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel is just a freight train coming your way
.. any kind of copying of copyright material is illegal. You may buy a CD but under no circumstances may you copy it. This is for any kind of copying, not just digital copies.
As the law stands nobody gives a sh*t, we rip CDs for all we got and participate actively in the former Napster, as a test I had only one MP3 in my Napster a few months back, a rare track from a famous brazilian artist - in 2 days I had more than 50 downloads (tracked and identified, of course) to, at least, 40 brazilians.
Oh, there's an HP commercial that airs with some girl walking in New York listening to some music then burning a CD with the tunes - I bet most of you have seen it. Well, at the end of the commercial, in TINY letters is written something like "it's illegal to copy"... Well, I guess that kinda kills the whole campaign - "Look but don't touch"...
Some artists allow their music to be played on half-assed internet "radio stations" using, exclusively, WMA and/or RA for streaming.
---
--
All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
All browsers' default homepage should read: Don't Panic...
Check out FairTunes for an example of how some Canadians are rewarding artists without stifling the free music scene.
:-)
I can't say the response in Canada to MP3s has been too much different in nature than the US, although it's probably less heavy-handed.
At the University of British Columbia (yes, that's in Canada, in Vancouver), Napster is officially persona non grata, but it's not actually blocked, and they don't seem to care unless you're pigging bandwidth. The University of Victoria has been less lenient, and has forced some students to uninstall Napster while campus security watched, with the threat of suspension if caught using Napster again. I'm not too sure about other universities in Canada, but I suspect they're somewhere between UBC and UVic.
Remember, Canada doesn't have the DMCA, or UCITA, and the MPAA and RIAA aren't based here. That's got to count for something, too
AFAIK all the records you hear on 3FM are being played/started from the computer and are probably in MP3 format. They must have a huge collection of MP3's over there.
A little while back there was a hit by Kosheem (Hide you) which was played a lot on 3FM, but which you couldn't buy anywhere. The station obviously got it from Napster and advertised it a lot.
3FM has been the #1 popradiostation in the Netherlands for years, non-commercial, sponsored by the government.
Thimo
--
Avoid the Gates of Hell. Use Linux!
We get the same concerns as you seem to have in the US.
;-)
We also had coverage of Napster, but the coverage was very low-key. There's been lots of "debate" in the computing press, but less in the mass media - this is probably because we don't have the cheap access that the US seems to have.
Without wishing to whinge, when you're paying per minute for your connection to your ISP, downloading entire albums does not become a hobby.
When we start getting better penetration in the broadband market, we'll start seeing all the articles you've had being recycled into our mass media. But until then, I don't expect it'll fuss us much.
Check out producer/songwriter etc for Britney, N'Sync, Backstreet boys, Celine Dion, etc.
Max Martin and Cheirion studios all over the place.
Yes the country that brought you ABBA and Roxette is now haunting you with worse music than ever.
All opinions are my own - until criticized
It is done the other way around. ;p.
Marcel Heymans (Director of the IFPI Belgium) goes online on Napster and tries to find music of Belgian artists. If he can download such music from your computer (and thus you are offering music to the community) then you get a warning.....and you go into his favorites
Next weeks he tries again and if he finds your computer offering again, you lose your account!
And yes, he likes it even more when it's a student. An example
It's that simple.
... the local variant of the RIAA has been actively monitoring which people from Belgium download songs via Napster and sending letters to their ISP's to shut down their internet access... And ISP's do comply (most of the time the firt time you get a warning, the second time you loose your access).
--
Donate free food here
Napster has had some coverage in the technical press over here, but nothing mainstream. With bandwidth so low over here (dial-up and a bit of ISDN) and call charges so high it's not made much of an impact. Like most countries, it's legal to make MP3's for your own use from music you own. We don't have much in the way of pirated music (online or offline) and with one of the highest violent crime rates in the world, MP3 pirates are not on the "10 most wanted" list.
Deja moo - The feeling you've heard all this bull before.
Firstly a correction: THERE *ARE* copyright laws in Thailand - it's just that they are not much enforced and for open pirates it's easy to pay off cops, buy courts, etc. when Thai authorities are busy bettering their image and raid the public areas where priated material is sold openly.
The cops usually bring the press along, make three token arrests and that's that. Apart from that, all shops suddenly close down shortly before the cops arrive.
Malaysia is slightly more civilized. While you can still find everything pretty much out in the open [music, movies, software] the government is doing slightly more to fix it's image. But then, one has to consider that most of those Thai pirated CDs are made in Malaysia in the first place. It is a bit tougher to enforce the laws here [although they try harder than the Thais], because Malaysia also produces about 60% of all legal CDs sold world-wide.
As to MP3, Napster, etc. The Malaysian press openly condemns the use of pirated material, but tongue in cheek, publishes all relevant links to sources of such bad bad sites in the same article.
On the higher level of understanding, copyright is well and truely not part of the mass psyche here. People happily sacrifice quality in return for cheaper prices [and it is a turn-on to watch a blockbuster movie on VCD a week before the official release in the U.S.].
As to software piracy, if it wasn't for that, the Internet would have not spread that fast and would still be very much a western thing.
Consider this, a good PC is available for about $1,500 while a decent PC clone with not too many gadgets costs from about $500 in Malaysia.
With an original M$ WIN O/S the box would cost around $800.00. Add office and you look at $1,400.00
Yes original software is dearer here than in the U.S.
[It is not an issue here to discuss that they don't have to use M$ and stuff; we are looking at the broad masses that have no idea - just like you didn't when you were born].
So, at an average monthly wage of about $300 for a factory worker and $500 for middle admin, most people could never afford to really buy their kids computers - if it wasn't for software piracy.
Governments know that, but can't really admit it openly...
And as they don't enforce software, they can't really enforce movies and music either - they are all pirated in the same factories after all.
IANAL, but I think the legal situation doesn't differ much from other western European countries. It's no problem to make mp3s of your own CDs (or friend's), neither downloading. Serving is illegal, but AFAIK there haven't been any lawsuits yet. The sites just get kicked by the ISPs. In real life MP3s are not a very hot topic, probably due to limited bandwidth for most users, but this is going to change. People heard of Napster, but usual Mr. Swiss does not exactly know, what it means. Mass media and government care more for other unwelcome stuff like racist or pornographic content. There are attempts for filter software or sueing ISPs (just loud thinking, not much happening yet), but this might as well have an influence on mp3s, warez; and politics as well. This is an International problem, in the name of copyright and other blah blah freedom of speech is cut down in little slices, so no one will notice its disappearance until it's too late.
Posters? You mean ones like this?
__
VPRO not only took all sony stuff offline, they took it off the air, and do not play ANY sony music anymore. They want to put their radio-programmes online in its entirety, not with parts cut out.
//rdj
No one can understand the truth until he drinks of coffee's frothy goodness.
--Sheikh Abd-Al-Kadir, 1587
Napster says that they have all right to deep link to MP3, BUMA says that there is enough international jurisprudence to get the site shut.
A national dutch Media (not commercial) union called VPRO put their radio shows onto the internet after broadcast. Sony got a bit pissed and said that music fans should not be able to hear their favourite music for free, they should sit next to the radio and wait patiently until their favourite song would be played. The VPRO took all Sony content offline. Nowadays other record companies are getting pissed as well, we still don't know what the VPRO is going to do.
A little offtopic (not mp3) but interesting: The union of consumers, biggest organization for protecting consumers rights, published an article this month on the quality of DVD players. They also wrote about the region code. According to the article, it is not illegal to modify the player into a region free player, they even published adresses and prices for player modification.
I just love this counry (Holland).
Bizar technology?
Although Denmark is a member of the EU, Danish music industry took initiative to hit hard on illegal mp3 downloading and CD copying about one and a half year ago.
This lead to a couple of cases in which residents at Danish university dorms were brought to court and charged ridiculus high sums of money for allowing public access to mp3's on the university's networks.
Shortly after that followed a couple of cases against private collections of mp3's and again the sums sued for by the music industry was incredibly high for Danish standards. Normally in a lawsuit no one gets compensated over $100,000 but in the cases the demand was closer to $200,000. The cases were rejected by court, and the music industry's crusade against illegal copying fizzled. A lot of money was spent on advertising the campaign but not a lot came out of it. About a year or two ago, some danish musicians started making some of their tracks available of th web, thus forcing the industry to relate to the new media. However, there are (to the best of my knowledge) no commercial mp3-sites in Denmark today.
-.sig sauer-
In the Netherlands, I dont think there has been much discussion yet although its clear that the industry and the BUMA/STEMRA organisation (who get money from airplay, cd sales and blank tapes/CD-R sales) are watching the developments closely. The BUMA/STEMRA organisation (http://www.buma.nl click on the UK flag for English) have made a temporary arrangement where webmasters can pay a sum of money to legally put online some music. There has also been a campaign (i.e. posters, commercials)against illegal copying of music.
Some time ago the Napster case was on national news and especially the djs of the Dutch public pop/rock radio station 3FM (http://www.3fm.nl) formed opionions. Some djs are clearly supporting mp3s.
There has been quite a lot of talking about mp3 here. The napster-trial is on the news and most record-companies here are screaming bloody murder about the net-distribution of music.
The most interesting point as I see it was a Recordlabel CEO that pointed out that what the recording industry was most afraid of was what he called "The lost generation" meaning that there is quite a large group of young kids who think that music is free. Us older geezers are used to paying for our music and use mp3 mostly for screening what we like and whats worth buying. The young don't have this behaviour and that could become a great problem for the industry.
So a lot of programs on radio and TV discuss this topic and so far noone has a solution.
/OSH
Swedish government has finally figured out that the "opt-out" scheme for spam is worthless. It's better than never I suppose.
You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. -- Harlan Ellison
Britney Spears, N' Sync, Vanilla Ice.. All the greats are from America.