Bummer

[laurie_ky]

So I just got home and found out Megaupload is in TROUBLE, and the site is shut down by the Dept of Justice.

All of my fanmixes and all of my podics were uploaded there, athough a lot of my podfics were mirrored at Audio Fic Archive except for the last bunch I've done in the last few months because the archive is dealing with a problem about

Comments

[knitty_woman]

So sorry, Laurie! It's sad, because of course it wasn't original material that the DOJ was going after, but legitimate users like you ended up losing material too. So much work you put into those podfics!! I'm hopeful you'll be able to recover most of them through your website or downloads that folks have made...

[laurie_ky]

The podfics aren't lost. I've got them on my harddrive. It's how to get them to others that I'll have to ponder. And I was using music in my fanmixes that people could download so I'd be frowned at, too, for that. I bought a lot of it, though, to fit the mood that I wanted to show, or already had it. To me, doing fanmixes tends to interest people in musician's work.

I'm going to wait a while and see if other places that people upload to get smacked down. If it looks like they're okay, I'll reupload any podfics that the Archive doesn't have.

I guess I'll have to think about the fanmixes. I love doing them as complements but they are more in a gray area.

Might just go to streaming fanmixes and not have them available for downloading.

Laurie

[knitty_woman]

I'm just reading the tea leaves here, but I think that this was a shot across the bow. By taking out the biggest offender, it's a warning notice that the other guys need to clean up their acts. It's clear from the indictment that MU had the capability to delete copyrighted material, and deliberately chose not to do so. (According to the indictment, they actually were better about deleting porn, but they weren't willing to give up the revenue they got from the copyrighted material. They'd delete one link to contested material, but would purposely leave any other links and tell the complainant they'd deleted the material.) So.... I think eventually there'll be someplace you can store stuff, but it's going to be harder to store anything under copyright (or even stream it).

[laurie_ky]

Before they were shut down, I had one of my fanmixes be blocked, but not the other ones. I wasn't notified about it or anything, somebody who tried to download a fanmix told me.

I'm feeling a little ambigious here, because I have uploaded songs but on the other hand, I think from personal experience that making mixes actually encourages spending money on those artist's works. I did a quick count of how many songs I'd downloaded from Amazon to make some of my mixes and it's around forty. That's forty bucks I wouldn't have spend otherwise on the music industry.

People have commented to me that they've been exposed to music they weren't knowledgable about and have gone on to buy those artist's songs.

I like making mixes, but apparently from the legal standpoint, handing a physical copy to a friend is just as illegal as selling that mix over the Internet.

Sigh.

Laurie

[cross_stitchery]

hey Laurie, if you need somewhere to put your podfic, i'm happy to give you some space on my site. i have unlimited space and download on this plan.

[laurie_ky]

Yes, I would be interested in it for the few podfics that aren't at Audio Fic Archive, but I think I've decided to quit making fanmixes, unless I just make a list of songs with the lyrics and not have the actual music.

Thanks so much,

Laurie

[caarianna]

I've heard MegaUpload is already reformatting, to be back in a slightly different incarnation and if they don't come back, others, lots of them, will take their place -- if only to prove the US Government can't control the 'net.

It's ridiculous. We have so many other horrible problems in the US and the world, whether environmental climate challenges and disasters or the wreck of the health care system, or the total dysfunction of the government but where's their priority? Shutting down an international site because of copyright infringement. Now, I have sympathy with musicians and we're going to lose that whole industry because the writers and performers aren't making enough to survive (unless they're already megarich) and the film industry may be next. And it seems nobody in the younger generation understands the concept of plagarism. But there are a whole lot more important issues that don't seem to get the same level of commitment to action.

This is one very weird country.

[laurie_ky]

The emphasis is driven by money. Making fanmixes actually cost me money, since I bought a lot of the songs. I think I'm going to quit doing it. As an art form I really loved tying in music and lyrics with the concepts from a story, but I'm worried now that there's going to be a witch hunt.

Laurie

[caarianna]

Laurie, I really don't think individuals like you need to worry. They don't have the resources or the interest to go after 'small time' users who aren't making money from all this. It's the big players they want, those who make the music or movies available for free in the first place, and then who make millions from doing so. 'Fan users' like us, whether screen caps, or music, or copywritten characters aren't on their radar screens. And, so long as you've paid for the music you use, you are not one of the folks they are worried about.

[laurie_ky]

You'd think so, but they can go after minnows.

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/amplifier/minnesota-mom-hit-with-15-million-fine-for-downloading-24-songs.html

I'm altering all of my fanmix posts. If somebody wants to discuss how to acquire the music they can email me.

Laurie

[stage_mgr]

I wonder if eventually some legitimate user of these storage sites might sue the DOJ for seizing property that they rightfully own. I'm sure SOPA & PIPA will eventually end up in the Supreme Court. Back in the late 40s the MPAA wanted congress to limit television. Plus ca change, plus ca meme.

[laurie_ky]

The more it changes, the more it's the same.

(I googled it)

Yeah. My personal feelings are that having free mixes out there actually allows people to be exposed to music they might not know about and interest them in the artist, and they might buy their music. Especially for songs that's not on mainstream radio. I never listen to the radio, excpet NPR sometimes. I wouldn't have come across Mumford and Sons or other newer music except for listening to mixes people had available for download.

I actually had some stuff that was for work on the site, I'd read out loud some study materials for an accreditation process and had just given the link to a supervisor to see if they wanted to send it out to other people in the company to use. I'm not looking forward to telling my bosses that it was all shut down for piracy.

Laurie