Trying To Find A Middle Ground For File Sharing?
from the likely-to-please-no-one dept
Found over at New Media Musings is a link to Scott Matthews attempt to find a "middle ground" to the file sharing mess. As with many middle ground solutions, there are things with this that are likely to upset either side, and I'm not sure there's much to be thrilled about either. Basically, it's just taking a Creative Commons style approach (where the copyright owner has the right to clearly define their rights over the song) and combines it with a directory/database system like the DNS system. The idea, then, is that you could query the directory to easily figure out the rights on certain songs. As an application of this, he suggests someone could make an RSS/BitTorrent feed of good songs that are free for non-commercial use. The one benefit I see is that this does offer a better way for musicians to promote new tracks that they're making available for free, as it becomes a central place to make such an announcement (and that, alone, could actually encourage more musicians to make their songs available). Other than that, though, it does little to satisfy either side in the debate. The RIAA has shown that they have little to no interest in any discussion that involves anyone ever giving out songs for free, and most file sharers just want to listen to music and not have to worry about any kind of digital rights.
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No Subject Given
Given the nature of the current state of the p2p debates, I think it would be a great step forward if both sides could simply talk about something new, rather than rehash the same old arguments that we've been having for five years...
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As it is now, it's really hard to figure out who has rights to what, and if somebody wants to make a site that promotes new artists, something like DRUMS could totally change the process from a bureaucratic mess, to a simple, straitforward (and even automated) querry, if you see what I mean...
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