RIAA and Podcasting - A Technical Perspective

[notyourusualbollocks]

Been thinking about this for a while. The current mechanism that the RIAA uses to sue file sharers is the P2P network. Because of it's nature, individual tracks with their corresponding ID tags are shared. Now, from what I read, the sniffers the RIAA uses will scour these tags or even individual file names to determine what is legit and what is not.

You can't do this with podcasts. You need to physically LISTEN to the show to determine which tracks have copyright issues. At the moment the scene is still small but expanding quickly. Sure, they can crack down on certain shows but it's impossible to do this manually if the volume increases (and believe me, it is. I've seen numerous podcasts now which are just pure albums being encoded as a single MP3 file). I don't see the point of this frankly but you can see where it's all heading.

I really can't see any way they'll be able to track podcasts they way they currently do with P2P traffic.

Your thoughts?

[ccarella]

You can't do this with podcasts. You need to physically LISTEN to the show to determine which tracks have copyright issues. At the moment the scene is still small but expanding quickly. Sure, they can crack down on certain shows but it's impossible to do this manually if the volume increases (and believe me, it is. I've seen numerous podcasts now which are just pure albums being encoded as a single MP3 file).

First off, they can to listen to all the shows. The FCC does it with radio* and I'm sure the RIAA is better funded. It only takes a team of interns making $8/hr to listen to podcasts.

Second of all, I'm sure there is a clever technical solution. Perhaps some sort of waveform or frequency analysis can pick out particular songs (The RIAA doesn't go by ID3's, they go by the hash value of a file ripped straight from CD). There is a profit motive for someone to come up with a way to pull out Copyrighted song from a podcast, and someone will figure out how to do it.

Finally, this is just more dangerous than file sharing. It seems more difficult to track down a user based on an IP address than one who pays a hosting company to host the podcast.

I have an idea! How bout we make podcasting a medium for distributing non traditional media (Independent News/Talk/Music), and not try to find ways we can use it for Piracy.

Here's a second idea. So all the pirates don't spoil our fun, why don't you call it "PirateCasting"... so the RIAA doesn't get confused between the legitimate hardwork of people like Insomnia, Accident Hash, In Over Your Head and Bandtrax with Internet Pirates.

Podcasting is about legitamte legal broadcasts, while PirateCasting can be for the l337 Pirate DUDEZ.


*Yes I know the don't actually listen to everything, but they do a good job tracking down offenses

[FLEB]

Even consumer software can determine what a song is from a sample... I know the Neruos has something that does that. You can record a sample of the radio, sync it with the PC, and it'll tell you what the song was.

[notyourusualbollocks]

It's still a lot more work than 'fishing' p2p traffic. That was really my point - the manual process involved rather than the automation that currently seems to be ocurring.

[Insomnia Radio]

I only have this to offer:
I am three shows ahead because of the multitude of independent music being submitted to Insomnia Radio. Once you tap into the quality that is UNDER the radar, I see no need to even mention the RIAA as it relates to podcasting...

[PBCliberal]

The FCC responds to complaints, and in Jesusland complaints come easy. Check out Jeff Jarvis' Buzz Machine (http://www.buzzmachine.com/) for a quick-read on how the FCC works and how pressure groups play it like a violin. (A FOI request from Jarvis proved that the "hundreds of complaints" cited by the FCC in a recent obscenity ruling came from three people.)

Terrestrial radio and corporate-media record companies are in the position they're in primarily because of a history of supression of the competition and only marginally because of their ability to compete against it. The unlevel playing field on performance fees between "broadcasting" and streaming digital delivery is a good example of how they work the Congress and the courts.

But their greed bites them in the ***, too. One of the big reasons for the trashing of commercial radio is a change in the nature of a broadcast license brought about by Reagain during deregulation and fostered through the Bush and Clinton years by this view that we'd have so much media that ownership restrictions wouldn't be a problem. They never figured that no matter how much media there is, five companies can still share the whole pie.

Until now.

There's no way now to put this genie back in the bottle. Their greed has made these properties far more valuable than their ability to produce revenue. Many of these giants are saddled in debt and spend their time trying to engineer hostile takeovers or bullshit their shareholders with short-term profits and vacuous buzzwords

We need to fight these guys on our own turf, not on theirs, because we have some strengths they only wish they had. This is why Ccarella (above) gets it! Even if we could force the RIAA to kiss our *** in Macy's window and tell us it smells like a rose, terrestrial broadcasting has a history with legacy content, knows how to use it, and is starting to get scared. Fear can have a tremendous effect for immediate change. The'll get rid of their 22 minutes of commercial content (Clear Channel is already singing the praises of 30 second and even 15 second spots). and they'll start paying creative people to package this stuff in the same kind of stunning way that keeps you listening that radio once did when there were real people with real talent paid real money to run the radio stations. Today its all bankers and focus groups and liner-card readers each responsible for 10 stations in 5 markets half of which they've never even been to.

Our strength is bringing new material to people's ears, and becoming the brand that does that; that makes terrestrial radio even more old-timey. The numbers have been there for a long time. Radio's death sentence is clearly shown in the ratings for teenage males, who listen to terrestrial radio less with each new rating period. Corporate radio has excused these numbers with a "put away childish things" argument that says kids will adopt old technology as they get older and have less time to geek. But we're making pull technology easier and more accessible, and kids aren't put off by technology the way most geezers from my generation are.

So the hell with the RIAA, and to some extent, with ASCAP and BMI and SESAC and all the greedy dinosaurs that signed contracts with talent that stole their brilliance because "back in the day" corporate media owned the only bat and ball.

Its time for the chickens to come home to roost, and the best way to get those chickens here fast, is to shut these leeches out the same way they shut three generations of talented writers, performers and producers out.

Let the RIAA have Metallica. Maybe they can find a way to eat them.

[camilian]

Now THAT was a fantastic post...

[cc_chapman]

I'm with Jason. Who needs RIAA tracks?

Sure, I'd kill to do an all Prince Podcast, but I'm not going to stick my *** out on the line like that.

I'm playing nothing but indies on http://www.accidenthash.com and I'm having a **** fun time doing it and getting exposed to a ton of new music at the same time.

[notyourusualbollocks]

Who needs 'em? Well they're not all bad. Take my dilemma for instance (as I'm based in London).

A band which is on independent label in the UK will, upon moderate success be taken across the US by a major label. So although the UK track is registered with a fully independent label such as Rough Trade (and it remains on this label for the remainder of it's release lifespan), it may well fall under Capitol jurisdiction in the US which would come up with a red flag warning using the RIAA radar site.

I've done three shows so far. The first one was an experiment and I had some RIAA tracks on there, the second one less, and the third one even less. My fourth one due in a few weeks will be completely RIAA free and it will stay like that for good. However, like I said earlier, I can't guarantee that a great independent band in the UK will eventually be released by an RIAA label in the US.

Then again, I take each show offline after 3 weeks to free up some space on libsyn and I doubt any band in the near future will experience a 3 week meteoric rise to stardom (unless you're the 'Darkness'). ;) So maybe this is all irrelevant.

But you can see how the international nature of podcasts can create some interesting dilemma's when it comes to keeping stuff RIAA free. Podsafe in the UK, yes but podsafe in the US, maybe not.

Anyways, I hope to apply for MPA membership in about a month's time and give you lot a distinct UK flavour. There's already too much US domination... ;)

Keep up the good work....

MK