/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ the politics of IP en-us wex@hovir.com 2009-11-19T13:35:04-05:00 hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/11/19/income_breakdown_for_best_selling_author.php One would think that the authors' positions in publishing, being better than the artists' positions in the recording industry, would lead to somewhat better incomes. No such luck. Rob Beschizza at boingboing pointed to Lynn Viehl's posting of her latest royalty statement. Significantly, this is a book that's been on best-seller lists and stocked well in stores. Ms Viehl calculates that one such book per year would probably leave her qualifying for food stamps.... 74152@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-11-19T13:35:04-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/10/22/pandora_in_the_ny_times.php Earlier this week the Times Magazine online published an extensive piece on Pandora, a service I've used for several years and started paying the premium for a year or so ago. Surprisingly, it looks like Pandora might actually turn a profit this year, due in large part to a popular iPhone app. This despite 50% of their revenue going to copyright fees.... 74109@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-10-22T11:11:43-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/10/19/new_technology_new_art.php Sort of a case-in-point contrast to Nate Anderson's post, boingbong! highlights what are probably the first Google Wave mash-ups. As I said last time, mash-up isn't really the right word to use here, but we still don't have better language so it's what I'll use for now.... 74103@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-10-19T14:41:14-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/08/21/uk_photogs_get_a_chance.php Photographer Not A Terrorist appears to have gotten the attention of the relevant UK authorities. A new post on their Web site indicates that the British Home Office has issued new advice on how the anti-terrorism laws should be applied in the case of photographers doing their jobs. Now let's see what impact this has in implementation.... 74033@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-08-21T06:37:46-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/08/17/untangling_the_civil_rights_for_musicians_debate.php A week or so ago, I noted that the debate over this proposal (to make broadcast radio pay the same sorts of fees that Web radio has to pay) was getting more confusing. Today Matthew Lasar at ars technica posted a long entry that examines the issue in depth. This is well worth a read, not least because Lazar puts the issue in terms of "big content versus big radio", arguing there may be no good guys at all in this fight.... 74022@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-08-17T15:10:56-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2009/02/10/limewire_going_legit.php Chris Crum over at WebProNews has posted a Q-and-A with LimeWire's George Searle, who has a couple comments on ongoing partnerships and attempts to move beyond the trench warfare with the Cartel. (Reminder: I work for a company that is technically related to LimeWire, but have no contacts or interest in that bit of the business.)... 73734@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2009-02-10T10:54:15-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/10/20/business_models_blog_series_concludes.php The "Business Models for Artists" series I noted a few days ago has now concluded. The series ended up being less about actual models and more about methods for enacting a model once you've got one.... 73587@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-10-20T10:28:17-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/10/17/mccain_cant_win_on_song_front_either.php Not content with getting into legal troubles before, McCain's camp has decided to get itself chastised by yet another 80's rocker, at least according to this MTV Newsroom piece. No idea if they're using a general license again or just appropriating.... 73585@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-10-17T15:25:49-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/09/17/public_art_commentaries.php Interesting AP piece on Geoffrey Raymond's art form: he paints a large picture of a public figure (e.g. Barack Obama or Lehman Brothers' ex-CEO Richard Fuld) then takes that picture out into the public and invites people to annotate it. Most people seem to sign their names or leave text comments. You can read his blog at "The Year of Magical Painting" and if you click through the portfolio link and ask Picasa for an enlarged image you can even read some of the comments.... 73542@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-09-17T09:22:28-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/08/27/more_free_online_books.php Linked to me by a friend: 25 Places to Read Free Books Online. It's not a comprehensive list by any means; for example, they left off Baen's Free Library, which is an excellent SF resource. That said, I think it's excellent someone can compile a list of 25 such places, referencing many thousands of titles.... 73519@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-08-27T15:05:14-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/07/16/tooting_my_own_horn_mpaa_vs_the_people.php Back at the start of June, I was interviewed for a story that has finally appeared in Infotech and Telecom News. The story is mostly pull quotes from people talking about the MPAA's recent wins against Web sites that post links to copyrighted material. The article author wrongly states that I'm still associated with MIT, but at least the quotations are accurate.... 73442@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-07-16T08:20:47-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/06/04/fmc_releases_rock_the_net_compilation_cd.php Our friends at the Future of Music Coalition are announcing a CD compilation to benefit their Net Neutrality campaign. Featured names include Wilco, Bright Eyes, They Might Be Giants, Aimee Mann, Guster and more. The CD is set for an end-of-July release.... 73350@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-06-04T10:49:01-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/03/20/finding_legally_usable_pictures_compfight.php A friend pointed me to a new search tool, compfight, that allows you to search for pictures posted to the Web photo hosting site flikr. The cool part is that you can check a box that lets you search for Creative Commons-licensed photos.... 73175@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-03-20T16:10:27-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/03/17/fleeting_words_extensive_review.php Back in June of last year I noted that Fox was going to court to fight the FCC's policy of punishing "fleeting" expletives. The trial judge called the policy "arbitrary and capricious." SCOTUS agreed to add the appeal hearing to its fall docket. Given how bad this Court's rulings have been in recent speech cases, I'm not too hopeful, but we'll see.... 73165@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-03-17T14:09:52-05:00 http://copyfight.corante.com/archives/2008/03/04/more_media_offerings.php A couple of interesting links from the pile today. First up is what looks like "Netflix for audiobooks", though they don't use that slogan. Simply Audio Books requires a monthly fee or prepaid subscription and based on how much cash you put up front they let you hold onto 1-4 audio books as long as you like. And since I got slammed for linking to Neil Gaiman's free online book read, here are three free downloads from Night Shade Books, including a novel from Richard Kadrey who may not be as well known as Gaiman but is an excellent SF... 73136@/home/corante/public_html/copyfight/ Blink › 2008-03-04T10:31:58-05:00