Gnomoradio: Creative Commons Music Sharing

An anonymous reader writes "I just stumbled upon Gnomoradio, a file sharing jukebox based on Creative Commons licenses. This program looks like a garage band's dream come true! It recommends songs based on each user's ratings, and has the capability to share them. Announced less than a year ago, the program has already made a great deal of progress, as can be seen from these screenshots. I downloaded the Debian package, and aside from a few interface quirks, the program works flawlessly. Is this the future of digital music, or should we be looking for something less centralized?"

Comments

similar to irate

[iamplupp]

This seem to be based on the same concept as irate

How long will this last?

[nizo]

This looks awesome, but how long before the RIAA starts feeding copyrighted music into the system and then gets it shut down? Things like this have to be their worst nightmare.

Re:How long will this last?

[bizpile]

This looks awesome, but how long before the RIAA starts feeding copyrighted music into the system and then gets it shut down? Things like this have to be their worst nightmare.

Even for /. that statement seems a bit paranoid. I doubt that the RIAA would try to entrap people that are legally trading music the RIAA doesn't own when they have plenty of people actually illegally trading music they can go after.

Re:How long will this last?

[tolan-b]

It threatens their ditribution monopo^H model.

Re:How long will this last?

[tsg]

Even for /. that statement seems a bit paranoid. I doubt that the RIAA would try to entrap people that are legally trading music the RIAA doesn't own when they have plenty of people actually illegally trading music they can go after.

Unless their primary goal is to protect their obsolete business model, but they wouldn't do that....

Re:How long will this last?

[gcaseye6677]

The RIAA has a history of trying their hardest to stop ALL online music distribution. Remember the early suits against the makers of Diamond RIO MP3 player? The thing couldn't even copy music, but they sued simply because they wanted to stall digital music. Then there were all of the lawsuits against MP3.com which didn't even carry RIAA music, but it was theoretically possible that it could be used for copyright infringement, so their lawsuit said. Like I've said all along, the record labels aren't so much bothered by kids downloading Britney Spears songs; what scares them is a digital distribution model so efficient that a band decides to use it rather than sign over their souls to a record company.

Re:How long will this last?

[aardvarkjoe]

Yeah, because I'm sure that use of Gnomoradio is going to cut a huge dent in the number of people listening to RIAA music. After all, if history has shown us anything, it's that when given the choice, the teeming masses have always chosen to listen to free independent music rather than illegally downloading the latest Britney song.

Re:How long will this last?

[Chaotic Evil Cleric]

I would think this is worse for the RIAA, if it catches on. Like Microsoft, who turns a blind eye to widespread piracy but has secret Hallowe'eny-type meetings on how to covertly kill One-Percent-Of-The-Market Linux (through SCO, etc.), the RIAA knows that piracy of their music is not as bad as people ditching them completely to pirate OTHER people's music. Irrelevancy is their greatest worry right now, not piracy. And rightly so; they're easily replaced. At least piracy means they're still relevant.

Re:How long will this last?

[Greenisus]

Unless their primary goal is to protect their obsolete business model, but they wouldn't do that....

I think the RIAA is not really concerned about online communities like this one. Things like GarageBand.com have been around for a long time and the RIAA is not sweating it. Things like this make it easier for an RIAA label to sign a band. The band will be more professional, will already have some knowledge of marketing itself, and will have some sort of proven success to show that they can create a "buzz." Right now, all a major label can do is go to live shows and watch SoundScan reports for independents to look for talent (they don't open unsolicited demo tapes mailed to them for legal purposes). This is simply another venue for them to scout.

Re:How long will this last?

[tsg]

I think the RIAA is not really concerned about online communities like this one.

They will be if this becomes popular.

Things like this make it easier for an RIAA label to sign a band.

Things like this make it unnecessary for a band to sign with a label. And that's really the crux of the matter. The recording industries business model has been the creation/promotion of superstars and the selling of plastic disks. The plastic disks are no longer needed and sites like this make promotion available to bands without the help of the labels. While these sites will probably not produce superstars like the labels do, it will make it easier for musicians to make a living making music. They won't make as much as the superstars, but there will be more musicians doing it.

Only time...

[StevenHenderson]

Sure this is fine for the garage bands, but it will never catch on with the "mainstream" bands. This is for one reason. No money.

Just as mp3.com used to be a great resource for me to find bands, the bigger artists tried to get in on it, but would never allow songs for download. Especially with the widespread adoption of "legit" music stores, I doubt this will catch on outside of indie groups (which is where I will continue to get my music).

Centralized is good if content is legal

[jonesboy_damnit]

As per topic: it seems to me that centralization is a good thing when no copyright violations are taking place. It allows easy sorting/searching/etc. based on data that is easy to find (the central server) - I think this is a great thing for indy/garage/etc artists looking for another place to promote themselves.
-Matt

Re:Centralized is good if content is legal

[gosand]

As per topic: it seems to me that centralization is a good thing when no copyright violations are taking place. It allows easy sorting/searching/etc. based on data that is easy to find (the central server) - I think this is a great thing for indy/garage/etc artists looking for another place to promote themselves.

Funny how now we now assume something is illegal unless proven otherwise, instead of the opposite.

Asked and answered

[stratjakt]

Is this the future of digital music..?

No, because few people want to listen to indy music.

The future of digital music is giving the RIAA another buck, via Apple or Napster or whoever, to listen to your favorite songs in yet another proprietary format. One for your portable player, one for your PC, one for your car.

That's just the way it is, like it or not.

Re:Asked and answered

[Thunderstruck]

History is nothing if not cyclical. I've often lamented that local music is so hard to find now-a-days, and I honestly can't believe I'm the only one. For all but the last 200 years of human history, music was played live by local talent. Now, we have better technology and more people... there should be more local music rather than 10,000 radio staions all owned by clear channel with the same 35 song playlist. I for one welcome our new music source.

Re:Asked and answered

[Ignignot]

I think a better way to look at this is to say "is this the future of radio." Instead of the broad sweeping "...future of digital music." Ultimately the RIAA doesn't like things like this, but clearchannel must be sweating hard. They can see the chopping block, and maybe someday their head will go on it. Same thing goes for virgin records stores, sam goody, etc. The whole distribution network is getting beat up.

Re:Asked and answered

[joabj]

>No, because few people want to listen to indy music.

Hate to say it but there is something to be said for this. And for good reason.

Part of popular music's appeal is that it is, duh, enjoyed by a lot of people. That is the *primarily* purpose of the major labels, with their huge marketing budgets. They buy consensus along the lines of "Yes this is a song that we, the people, like."

This allows a sort of cultural bonding to take place over certain songs--the producers of "Garden State" can put Cold Play's "Don't Panic" in the begginning of that movie and we'll all understand its shared meaning. It becomes a generational thing.

Music companies buy consensus, and we all need that consensus to build a music community. (Whether we need this done in the way that music companies now do this is another matter entirely--I'd rather have 100 world music bands sell 100,000 copies each of their songs than Fleetwood Mac sell 10 million copies of their latest tired joint. But I digress).

I noticed this back in the early 90s when I was a reviewer for a heavy metal mag. We got *lots* of fantastic CDs in (Along with loads of dross) that, over time, became some of my favorite music. But I feela loss because no one today would know what a great band, say, Antic Hay, was. The music is just as good as what was popular, but something is lost nonetheless.

So Yay! for the major labels!

joab

Re:Asked and answered

[stratjakt]

I should say it's not just Americans, it's everyone.

People want to listen to the same songs and music because it helps them identify with each other. If you're the only fan of unknown band X, then you can't use that to link yourself to a particular crowd or lifestyle.

Which is what the RIAA really sells, prepackaged "lifestyles".

Want to be a non-conformist? Buy these CDs, and wear these cloths, pierce this, so you fit in just like every other non-conformist. (Yeah, the ass-backwardsness of that remark is on purpose).

Re:Asked and answered

[stratjakt]

Music is music...it doesn't matter where it comes from. If you like it, if it brings up an emotion in you...so be it. Who cares if Wayne Newton does it for you or Black Flag?

Your peers care. That's what I'm getting at. If your friends are into Black Flag, listening to Wayne Newton makes you an outsider.

They sell lifestyles. You can choose from goth, ska-punk, country redneck, hip-hopper, headbanger..

Many many people don't go to Best Buy and pick up CDs so much as they have songs they want to hear, but because it supposedly earns them "status" with their chosen crowd. Especially younger people seeking acceptance. You can't deny that this is true, Maslow hierarchy of needs... Psyche 101.

There are true music lovers out there, but they don't make up the mass markets.

Re:Asked and answered

[sgant]

I'll agree with you there about younger people seeking acceptance...but this is nothing new of course as I saw it all through the '70's. Hey, it's tough being a kid...in the past and now. Conform or be cast-out.

But you get older. Hip friends matter less and less and being part of a crowd matters less and less as that old devil time wears on.

Then the music that you most cherish happens to be the music you liked as a youth when you look back. Yes, I like new stuff coming out...but it usually has to brew for about a good 5 years before I start to enjoy it...because it brings back memories for me. Hard to explain really. But you get my drift.

Re:Asked and answered

[plasticmillion]

I don't think you're taking into account the effects of new technologies, some of which are already exploited by Gnomoradio (the internet, for example).

Why do music companies market inane girl and boy bands instead of good indy music? Because their business model is based on the idea of high marginal costs for distribution. If there are 10,000 people in the world who will like a song enough to pay $1 for it, and it takes me two days in the studio and other two on my Mac to make the song, at a total cost of say $2,000, then it's a profitable enterprise and I should do it (ignoring opportunity costs but you get the point). The hitch is the cost of actually distributing the music. I can't really send 10 copies to 100,000 different stores in the hope that a few stores will sell a copy.

Therefore it's more profitable for big music to concentrate on megabands that will justify the expense of creating a CD in X copies, shipping it to a bunch of stores and having to deal with unsold merchandise and returns. This is all changing now with the iTunes Store and the rest. Two things are still missing IMO:

• A really good recommendation system that helps me find music that isn't backed by an enormous marketing budget.
• A micropayment system.

(Notice that I didn't mention DRM.)

Personally I think the web, P2P technologies and micropayments are going to result in a renaissance of indy music.

The name

[MikeMacK]

Perhaps the biggest stumbling block to wide-spread adoption - the name, "Gnomoradio". Come on guys, we can be a little more creative than that - not everything that is created for Gnome needs to use "Gnome" or a derivative there of in it's title.

Re:The name

[MaestroSartori]

I quite like the name - "No More Radio"...

Re:The name

[fritter]

You should try my KDE-based music sharing service for hip hop, K-Rapper.

Re:The name

[Damek]

So why not just call it "No More Radio"? "Gnomoradio" is far from clear, especially for people who might never have heard of "Gnome" the destop environment.

It may be clever in context, but unless the goal was to create a new program so they could give it a clever name, they're really just undermining their own efforts.

The Classics

[KrackHouse]

Correct me if I'm wrong but nobody owns the works of Mozart. Now if all songs were incoded in Ogg format wouldn't it be feasible to create a legitamate radio station or stations based on Classical music that would be totally legal?

Re:The Classics

[Bill_Mische]

er...only if the orchestra were also long dead. Otherwise they would hold the copyright to their performance. Nice try though.

Re:The Classics

[gl4ss]

oh but that's the beauty! there's OLD recordings that can be transferred to digital in damn fine quality, too.

one of the national stations over here used to play classical music from some 20-30's recordings all night long some years ago, as they didn't have to pay for playing them at all.

now they just play pop.. trying to compete with commercial channels I suppose but whats the point for them(they're not a commercial channel, yet they try to act like one for some weird reason - taking all the bad bits from commercial stations like braindead hosts)..

and in addition to that there's quite many classical orchestras that don't really make the recordings for profit(you can find good classical music cd's in the discount bin always).

Good Start

[jim_nanney]

But really, I prefer http://www.magnatune.com/ . Its uses allow for free download of music and yet still promotes licensing music (paying the actual artist for thier creations) It is a perfect blend of free for public consumption, and paying musicians royalties.

Performance is owned

[Otto]

Correct me if I'm wrong but nobody owns the works of Mozart.

You're right, however the works of Mozart need to be performed. And those performances are owned by the people who performed them.

it will die to its own popularity

[Agrippa]

From my experience from being a programmer at MP3.com from 1999 until its sale to CNET in 2003, the independant artist community is one of the biggest bunch of cheating assholes I have ever witnessed. Not all, but enough independant artists will utilize any number of underhanded ways to boost their exposure on a network. I see nothing in this system that prevents what artists did at MP3.com - user ratings are a joke, because many artists will do anything possible to whore themselves out among their community to get a higher rating. What you will end up seeing is that if this get popular enough, it will become fully corrupted by crappy music being highly rated , which will then turn off the average user, and become yet another circle jerk for talentless artists and basically a waste of time for legitimate ones.

.agrippa.

Re:it will die to its own popularity

[NereusRen]

If it's anything like iRate, it doesn't use absolute rating to decide whether artists are "good" or "bad." It uses your ratings to find people who have SIMILAR interests to you, and gives you songs that THEY rate highly. Problem solved.

The real problem is splintering

[dpilot]

Now we have gnomoradio, irate, and somewhere else they mention magnatune.

Forget the programs, we need the standards. Isn't that what we've been saying about the Web and file exchange.

These buggers all need to interoperate. I haven't looked in detail at all of them, but let's say that gnomoradio has hit the key points:
1: publish the music
2: publish the license - keep it legal
3: ratings feedback
I'd say we also need
4: option to send money/payment/exchange to the artist

We need standards, and let gnomoradio, irate, and magnatune all run on those standards. Then pick the one you like, that runs on your platform.

3 disparate systems splits the catalog, and it's going to be tough enough to reach critical mass, as it is.

Some sort of license check is necessary as a fundamental part of the infrastructure, to keep the ??AA of their backs.

Provisions to pay the artist are a good idea. I wonder if percentage-wise voluntary payment works better or worse than spam.

Future of Music Discovery

[wounded_drake]

Perhaps this technology isn't the future of digital music, and maybe not even digital radio (although it certainly could be) -- but I believe it will play an important part in music discovery.

And it might not be iRate or Gnomeradio in particular, but the idea behind them.

Even when just applied to indie artists, I've found dozens of bands who are fantastic using iRate. In the process I've thrown out even more music that I didn't find enjoyable at all, but in a reasonably short time I was discovering music that would have taken me ages to find in any other way.

Could this be applied to mainstream music? I don't see why not. How far away is the technology that allows me to have a custom radio station in my car and at home. I streams music, I rate it and a profile is built for me that is compared against other listeners from around the world. Seems better to me than listening to the various radio stations play the same songs every day, occasionaly adding something new . . . maybe even something I enjoy listening to.

Chris. (And I do help with iRate development, so I'm somewhat biased.)

There is also iRate

[thelizman]

irate.sourceforge.net

I used it, but the GTK client was buggy as shit. However, I discovered quite a few good tunes once I got a working version installed. Clients for Win/Mac/Linux available.