NIN’s Trent Reznor and Copyright Fun
p2pnet news | Freedom:- “Several years ago I persuaded my record company to let me begin posting my master recording files on nin.com, in order to see what kind of user-generated content would materialize from my music,” says Nine INch Nails’ Trent Reznor on the NIN blog.
He goes on >>>
I had no agenda the main reason I did it was because I thought it was cool and something I would have liked to do if it was available to me. A lot of really fun stuff started to happen .communities developed, web sites were created, even traditional radio got in the game and began playing the fans’ mixes. I felt the experiment, despite not having a specific purpose, was a success. So much so that we’re now releasing a remix album that includes some of this fan-created material as well as the actual multitrack master files for every song from my latest record, Year Zero.
One piece was missing to me and that was an official nin.com presence for aggregating all of the fan-created remixes. Several intrepid fans had stepped up and done a great job providing a destination for people to post these, but I felt all along this was a function I should more directly support. So, upon release of this new remix album, our plan has been to launch an official site on nin.com that would provide a place for all fan remix material and other interactive fan experiences.
Or so I thought.
On Saturday morning I became aware of a legal hitch in our plans. My former record company and current owner of all these master files, Universal, is currently involved in a lawsuit with other media titans Google (YouTube) and News Corp (MySpace). Universal is contending that these sites do not have what is referred to as “safe harbor” under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and therefore are in copyright violation because users have uploaded music and video content that is owned by Universal. Universal feels that if they host our remix site, they will be opening themselves up to the accusation that they are sponsoring the same technical violation of copyright they are suing these companies for.
Their premise is that if any fan decides to remix one of my masters with material Universal doesn’t own – a “mash-up”, a sample, whatever – and upload it to the site, there is no safe harbor under the DMCA (according to Universal) and they will be doing exactly what MySpace and YouTube are doing. This behavior may get hauled out in court and impact their lawsuit. Because of this they no longer will host our remix site, and are insisting that Nine Inch Nails host it. In exchange for this they will continue to let me upload my Universal masters and make them available to fans, BUT shift the liability of hosting them to me. Part of the arrangement is having user licenses that the fans sign (not unlike those on MySpace or You Tube) saying they will not use unauthorized materials.
If they WERE to do such a thing, everybody sues everybody and the world abruptly ends.
While I am profoundly perturbed with this stance as content owners continue to stifle all innovation in the face of the digital revolution, it is consistent with what they have done in the past. So… we are challenged at the last second to find a way of bringing this idea to life without getting splashed by the urine as these media companies piss all over each other`s feet. We have a cool and innovative site ready to launch but we’re currently scratching our heads as to how to proceed.
More to come .
By the way, the potential implications of a lawsuit like this one go well beyond creating hurdles for a Nine Inch Nails remix site. Here is an excerpt from technology site Ars Technica regarding a similar lawsuit Viacom has filed against YouTube:
The DMCA’s Safe Harbor provisions aren’t just important to video sharing sites; they’re important to almost every sector of Internet-based business.
“Nearly every major Internet company depends on the very same legal foundation that YouTube is built on,” said von Lohmann. “A legal defeat for YouTube could result in fundamental changes to its business, potentially even making it commercially impossible to embrace user-generated content without first ‘clearing’ every video. In other words, a decisive victory for Viacom could potentially turn the Internet into TV, a place where nothing gets on the air until a cadre of lawyers signs off,” he said. “More importantly, a victory for Viacom could potentially have enormous implications for Yahoo, eBay, Amazon, MySpace, and many other Internet companies, because they all rely on the same DMCA Safe Harbors to protect many facets of their businesses, as well. The stakes are high all around.”
Indeed.
Definitely stay tuned.
(Thanks, James)
Also See:
NIN blog – Copyright Fun, November 19, 2007
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November 21st, 2007 at 9:36 am
And this whole mess could have been avoided if media conglomerates would get over themselves and take their heads out of their asses, and just loosen the grip on their stupid copyrights. Is there some unwritten law that only people with no common sense whatsoever can ever rise to a high position of power?
November 21st, 2007 at 11:21 am
“…A…victory for Viacom could potentially turn the Internet into TV, a place where nothing gets on the air until a cadre of lawyers signs off,â
The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers. [(c) Wm Shakespeare]
(They seem to be the ones raking the most muck. To be fair it is at the bidding of their owners, er… I mean… clients.)
Then, let’s have us a good ol’ fashioned hangin’ party. The guests of “honor” will be the CEOs and top level execs of these here dirty dealing media whorin’ corporations. Shoot, let’s just hang EVERYBODY who lives in a “gated community” or drives an H3. I think that’d help things out a whole bunch!
/sorry, but only for the bad humor, not the sentiment/
November 21st, 2007 at 11:51 am
Why can’t all the labels and artists think like Trent.
I think more music industry persons should stop what they are doing and give Trent a ear.
The NIN remix site is something I would pay to have access to.
I think the term Album has been changed from a thing you have on your shelf to a thing in your computer/mp3 player……
I don’t think the CD is dead, but I think it has gone the same way as the 8 Track. Its something colectors and die hard fans want.
The common person just wants to hear some music, we can listen to radio but then we are forced to listen to what the Labels think we should so they can have their Top 10 which is usually made up of the bottom ten artists who managed to pull off a one timer.
November 21st, 2007 at 1:13 pm
I bought LOTS of NIN CDs after downloading from http://www.nineinchnails.net. This was before Napster. Site seems to be abandoned now.
Metallica ruined music for me. Ungrateful whiners.
November 21st, 2007 at 7:12 pm
Why is it that these labels seem more interested in shooting themselves in the foot, (and continuing until the entire leg is in shreds), than in making more money?
They remind me of the mythical Oroburos, the serpent who eats its own tail. How long until this particular serpent swallows its own head?