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The RIAA Hit List - A Pattern Emerges?
Desus writes "Slyck News seems to have found a pattern in just what files the RIAA is searching on to find offenders. It seems the RIAA is targeting a wide reach of music, including Hip Hop, R&B, Rap, Rock, Pop and Country songs. Artists such as Ludacris, Michael Jackson, NAS, Busta Rhymes, Keith Sweat and Musiq were very common throughout the subpoenas. They've even created a helpful chart showing exactly what artists and songs seem to get one flagged." Update: 07/31 13:12 GMT by H : Here's another source for the chart.
http://perljam.net/misc/p2p/
Most popular:
Busta Rhymes Pass the Courvoisier (12)
Avril Lavigne Losing Grip (8)
Avril Lavigne Complicated (6)
Incubus Nice to Know You (6)
Marvin Gaye Lets Get It On (6)
Musiq Halfcrazy (6)
Tracy Chapman Fast Car (6)
-ted
KSpread will open it just fine.... I don't know what you're trying to use.
If you don't like Excel, you can grab the files in HTML format (25.2 KB) or in OpenOffice.org Spreadsheet format (10.4 KB).
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.
--Aristotle
OpenOffice worked just fine opening it.
The real spreadsheet abuse was loading it into a spreadsheet in the first place. What's wrong with a text file, or a pretty HTML tabled version, considering it was posted to a website? I blame that on the webmasters of Slyck News, whoever they are.
Text versions on my site: http://perljam.net/misc/p2p/
-ted
A few people complaining about the fact that the person put the numbers in the same column as the Song Title, here's an easy way to fix if you have a word processor that can do find/replace:
1. Get a plaintext version.
2. Replace all instances of " (" (thats a space and open parantheses) with a Tab.
3. Replace all instances of ")" with nothing.
4. Import into a spreadsheet program (practically every single one will do tab-delimeted fields).
Annoying to have to do it but dead simple.
Here is the chart in good ol' HTML format (I hope I am not violating any copyrights by reproducing this ;) )
DO NOT PANIC
THe article claims that from 50 total subpoenas being checked, they can deduce overall proportions of artist representation in the subpoenas, which is, frankly, a load of crock; with a sample size that small, margin of error would be enormous.
Ah, one of the great statistical fallacies... "sample sizes must be large to be valid". Not entirely correct.
Assuming a distribution, and reasonably random sampling, a sample of 50 would be plenty for single-digit accuracy, by my BOTE calculation. The problem is, what distribution shall we choose? Song preferences are clearly not Gaussian; personally, I'd guess Zipf.
But that's only a guess; not knowing the distribution is a complete stopper, and it can only be answered with extensive surveying of lots of data, which isn't about to happen for this study. It's not the sample size preventing good statistics, though, it's lack of knowledge of the distribution, which is a completely different matter. (Actually, it's a bigger problem, requiring much more data to be collected to answer the question, well beyond merely scanning the sued people.)
- Why didn't he use a third column for the count?
- Does the absence of "(X)" mean "one appearance" or "zero appearances?"
- Why use Excel for something so trivial, rather than HTML, RTF, or even ASCII?
- Is you insist on delivering the data in Excel format, why not deliver it organized in a useful manner?
On a side note, opening it in OpenOffice and saving it right back out to OpenOffice format results in a file 1/3 the size of the excel file.Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Come on RIAA, dare you to pick on us Lou Reed fans!
:-) Seriously though, I am a Lou Reed fan and know what you are talking about, although there were a few bands on the linked .xls file that would appeal to those over 25. Try Bob Marley, Blue Oyster Cult, Duran Duran, Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Grand Funk Railroad, Marvin Gaye, Pearl Jam, Queen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and The Clash.
Yeah, but you guys spend all your cash on heroin and don't have any left over for music.
Visit Jonesblog and say hello.
I read your comment at the same time as another browser window was opening with the list, and then was suprised to see bands such as UB40, U2 G&R and Van Halen. I bet songs from these appeal to over 25's as well as under 25's.
... frequented by under 25's maybe? That way they get more bang from their search $$.
Maybe another pattern can be found in the networks that the RIAA is targetting
Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people.
Just chatted with my investigator friend at the RIAA again. He told me they've got this whole operation outsourced to online investigators (not sure exactly what that means) and law firms. They're budgeting the effort as a simple cost of doing business. They do in fact have patterns, schedules, etc. This is just going to keep going until a group finds a common defense and can start making this more costly for them. Otherwise he said that internally it's clear they're following this road as long as they can.
He also mentioned that they're now paying for staff at ISP's. Basically with the Verizon case everyone is ready to roll and RIAA finishes them off by offering to pay for the staff increases needed to fullfil the subpeonas.
Personally I haven't bothered downloading music since shortly after the Napster demise, but this stuff is bullshit. I really hope the folks getting targeted can band together with some sort of tenable defense and start making this more expensive for them. During the Napster case I was told by this same guy that RIAA was getting short on funding and the labels weren't willing to cough up extra cash for the case. It sounds crazy, but maybe enough individuals could eventually team up, get all cases into a single jurisdiction, and try to start bleeding them again. They're big, but there funds are not limited. Certainly a long shot, though, and expensive for everyone involved.
Nah, you're fine. The reason is that you'll have difficulty finding it! :)
I haven't used P2P since Napster, and the main reason I stopped is because I was frustrated at the quality of the files (crappy rips, static, pops, etc).
A lot of the stuff that I listen to is 80's, not easily available (I either have to find a compilation CD that has 10 other songs I already have, or order online, and that's if it's available). Especially if it was a one-hit wonder.
Oh, and let's not forget the Canadian bands that I liked but can't find the albums here in the U.S., because they're considered "imports" (according to Amazon.com).
-- Joe
No Paul Oakenfold, No Sasha, No Paul Van Dyk, No John Digweed.
For a sample size of 50, the margin of error is 15%
For a sample size of 400, the margin would be 5%.
I am happy to present my results in the form of a new spreadsheet, a CSV file and a GIF formatted graph. I am too hungover, and too rotten a statistician, to draw any conclusions. Enjoy.
I used to have a better sig than this, but I got tired of it
There is a problem with Metallica now (I'm not talking about music quality, you can argue that amongst yourselves). Since the realease of St Anger there are legal Metallica MP3s available to anyone who bought the album at www.metallicavault.com with the encouragement, from the band, to download, burn and share (Oh, and "kick ass" too, aparently). I think in some ways the band may be trying to atone for their heavy handedness over Napster (or at least win back a few hearts and minds). SInce these are live versions of their album songs, it could be trickier to prove that people sharing were doing something illegal.
;)
The acoustic versions of Four Horsemen and Motorbreath are well worth getting
Goblin
It's all fun and games until a 200' robot dinosaur shows up and trashes Neo-Tokyo... Again
RTFA, jackass. They only examined 50 of the subpeonas. That means that Busta could be mentioned on about 250 of the total.
I gave up moderating this thing to post this? Of course, my points couldn't have countered the retards who modded this "Insightful"...
TS
If using Linux is about choice, how come people complain when I choose to use Windows?
how the hell you got an insightful I have no idea.
Small bands THRIVE on p2p sharing of their music.. Hell Every one of them that I ask give me permission to use their music in movies or ad's without anything but a copy of what we used it in.
they know that the only way to make it is to get people listening to their music, the radio stations are owned by the record companies and therefore wont play them (Don't even try to tell me they are not... I watched the payola go down for 2 years when I was in radio and friends today tell me it's worse now..) and they make their real money on venues and shows. EVERY one of them tell me they sell their CD's at the shows only... because they can't get them sold anywhere else as the stores don't want them.... even the small record shops won't let them put a small amount on their shelves at cost.
P2P sharing of music is the best thing to ever happen to a small band.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Pink Floyd is still free and clear...
There's some good music
El Guapo, Enon, Freezepop, The Stereo Total. If you like electronic pop at all and at least one of these bands does not blow you away, I will be very surprised. Those other artists you mentioned would be destined for what we at WMBC term "the ass bin".
WMBC freeform/independent online radio.
Have you ever sat down with a good pair of headphones and listened to "Independent Women (Pt. 1)" by Destiny's Child?
Obviously not. If so, you would have heard (1) insane production, and (2) an incredibly creative song.
And yes, Beyonce is hot hot hot. But that song, at least, kicks ass.
Mindy: "Well...desserts aren't always right." Homer: "But they're so sweet!"
Hey all.. I'm the news writer for Slyck.com The excel spreadsheet was just temporary and what I was working with at the time, never expected to be Slash-dotted!... Anyway, you've been heard loud and clear, and the list is available in an HTML format. Hope this make some people happy ;)
http://www.slyck.com/misc/songlist.html