Slashdot Mirror
Two Blanks Against the Trend
skdffff writes "German band Eisbrecher has decided to make a statement for its fans and for music consumers in general and is releasing their album ("Eisbrecher") including a bonus DVD with 2 blank CD-Rs which have the same label as the CD itself. Alexx Wesselsky (singer and head of the group): 'We are of the opinion that the music buyers are criminalized enough and have been made responsible for the wretched state in the music industry. We are giving them the chance to make 2 legal copies for private use with "official blanks".'"
For those of you who want to check out the band and support this action, but aren't really familiar with them, they're one of the top bands right now in the german rap scene. While they've branched out and included things like guitars and synthesized melodies into their music, they still have krauthop roots. But nevertheless, check them out, they're definitely a little different.
It was a GERMAN band.
The Dead Kennedys did something remarkably similar years ago with the tape version their "In God We Trust Inc" album.
The statement that they had was 'Home taping is killing big entertainment industry profits; we left side two blank so you can help'
And again, by someone whose music doesn't really interest me. Maria Jimenez, a singer from Spain, included a blank CD with one of her latest releases so that people wouldn't feel guilty about making copies for their own use. She only asked in return that people did buy her CD.
This is the only comment I found in English (last paragraph).
---- Take the Space Quiz!
The band shellac did something similar. They offered their album in CD and Vinyl. The Vinyl copy ironically came with a free copy of the cd. People still bought the CD though.
The spirit of that decision, I think, can only be observed in one of two ways; short duration, strong copyright laws, or long duration, weak copyright laws. The problem with the egregious Disney extensions is that they apply to other copyrights.
The ridiculous result is that Disney now owns a large percentage of what's in my head. They have relentlessly pursued copyright violations that were completely tangential to their trademarks and intellectual properties in order to establish the "don't fuck with the mouse" mindset, thus setting an example for everyone.
In short, I would quite agree with you if our copyright laws were still as originally written; I cannot agree based on current law.
Thinking outside my Head
If this were a band offering free MP3s for download, that might be interesting.
Check out the link in my sig, www.magnatune.com
Those artists are offering free MP3s of their albums.
Plus they get a 50% cut of what you decide to pay for the album. Great idea imo.
You buy the albums through the internet by the way, downloadable in different formats (WAV/OGG/MP3/FLAC)
CDBaby is also doing something like this. (although they sell real CD's, not downloads)
The path I walk alone is endlessly long.
30 minutes by bike, 15 by bus.
No, that is illegal.
Although, wat is legal (at least in the Netherlands) is this:
1. You give the original CD to a friend.
2. He copies it.
3. Then he gives the original back to you.
It's legal to copy anything for yourself, not for others.
(that's also what you pay extra for on every CD-R)
The path I walk alone is endlessly long.
30 minutes by bike, 15 by bus.
If you buy an audio CD-R (8 Euro) you pay royalties to the GEMA (society for musical performing and mechanical reproduction rights). That's about 16 Euros or about $20 (+labeling) for this PR stunt.
Normal CD-R cost only 0.40 Euro that's about $1 (+labeling) for the 2 CD-R included in this CD.
Grundgesetz * 23. Mai 1949 - 30. November 2007 - http://www.vorratsdatenspeicherung.de/
this is a band sticking it to the man!
This is my Sig, this is my Gun. One is for Slashdot and one is for Fun.
Chapter 8 ("The Financial Advantages of Anti-copyright " - pdf) of "Digital Resistance" might interest you. It debunks some of the more persistent capitalist myths behind the idea of "copyright for the protection of the artist".
I find CAE's other books quite interesting as well. It's quite hard for me to find well-written material related to the intersection between technology and culture, any pointers?
HAD
Chicks dig my good /. karma.
The Rosenbergs did a similar thing in 2001. They included a second copy of the CD, dubbed the "Napster Copy"
http://www.livedaily.com/news/2625.html
--------
It's OK to be social, just don't tell anyone about it.
The German counterpart of the RIAA is the IFPI Deutschland and not the GEMA.
Free Manning, jail Obama.
You can give out two copies to a friend, I guess (although that's illegal)
Depends on whether your legal system is already fucked up, or is still in the process of being screwed over.
In most of europe, the legal concept of the "private copy" is not yet dead. It's being choked, of course, and the RIAA would love to put it out of its misery.
What it means essentially is that you are explicitly allowed to make copies for personal purposes, such as backups, or to have a seperate CD in your car, or giving them away to friends. The later has through court cases been limited to a vague "reasonable numbers", which generally is translated to "a couple, no more than half a dozen" by lawyers.
Since the band is located in Germany, and the Privatkopie (private copy) is still in german law, making a copy and giving it away is absolutely legal for their customers here.
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
I recently ran across a good, concise discussion of US copyright laws with timeframes of when content becomes public domain here at Project Gutenberg. Looks like we will see some PD works next in 2019.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.
I may be incorrect, but a friend of mine in Germany told me that this is not as unusual as it sounds, it seems that German copyright law defines fair use in such a way that it is perfectly legal to make "personal" copies of recordings for friends and family members as long as you don't charge a fee.
-*The above statement is printed entirely on recycled electrons*-
CDBaby sells their downloads through iTunes, making it the best choice for indie artists wanting to reach a wide audience.
"I tend to think of OS X as Linux with QA and Taste", James Gosling, creator of Java
Did you hear of the guy who tried to sell his music on CD-Rs on Ebay and got stopped?
, 00 .html
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,55926
I agree. Lots of people don't understand copyright. Many on Slashdot too.
Many think copying stuff is stealing for instance. They just don't understand that if copying is stealing, since there are plenty of existing (and extensive) laws in most countries to handle theft (in myriad forms too) there would be no need for copyright laws, since the theft laws are there. And even if the theft laws aren't good enough they can always change/add. But copyright infringement isn't theft.
What if digital brain enhancers become common?
And almost everyone has photographic (+audio +video) memory (think current digital camera + pda + extrapolated). And almost everyone have a form of telepathy by transferring those memories wirelessly.
Who owns those memories? You hear some music, you "remember" it. Is it infringement to share your memories with your friend? Or with others? Or is it not your memory and the RIAA/MPAA requires a cut for each transfer? Or you lose access after 1 transfer?
Or do you have to do the Canada thing and pay a tax on every memory card for your e-brain just to make the greedy pigs happy.
The tech is practically all there - and people would be able to do lots of cool things, but the laws and greedy pigs could get in the way.
I think the main reasons why the Music Industry and Film Industry aren't making as much money is:
1) There are plenty of other attractive ways to spend money and time nowadays- internet, cellphones, video games, etc.
2) Their stuff doesn't appeal to enough people.
For 2) it's been 40+ days (or more) since the LOtR first screened over here. And a collegue just tried to get tickets without booking and it was fully booked. This here is the country where you can get non-original DVDs and CDs for low prices. If your movie is good enough people will pay to watch it.
Disney + Pixar make plenty of money doing the family stuff (whole family = more money), whereas the rest of Hollywood insists on pushing their world-view/agenda despite it costing them much potential profit.
The Music Industry makes 40% less, and they blame piracy, hmm I think Sun, HP made a lot less in the past few years too.
correct, but they recently passed a law that makes it illegal to circumvent any sort of copy protection in an attempt to make such a personal copy.
go figure...
oh and the GEMA is the collector of percentages on cdr/dvd media, vhs tapes, printer sales and such...