MGMT Album Leaks... Band Wants To Give Official Version For Free, But Denied

from the so-much-for-that dept

It's pretty common these days for musical releases from big name bands to leak early, followed by the band pushing up the release date. In the latest such case (sent in by reader Matthew), the band MGMT had its latest album leaked early, and then responded by putting up a free streaming version of the entire album. They're not the first band to do this, but what's interesting is the note on the band's website, where they claim they wanted to actually make the whole thing downloadable, but were told that wasn't allowed:

Hey everybody, the album leaked, and we wanted you to be able to hear it from us. We wanted to offer it as a free download but that didn't make sense to anyone but us

Well, actually, it makes sense to lots of us, but we're not running Sony Music. It's great that the band was able to put out a streaming version, and doesn't seem to mind that the album itself leaked, but not putting up an official downloadable version means that people will still be getting the unofficial version, and MGMT and Sony miss out on an opportunity to actually connect with the fans (such as by asking for an email address or giving people additional reasons to buy as they download).

Filed Under: free, leak, mgmt, music, streaming
Companies: sony music

As Sarkozy Pushes Three Strikes, He Pays Up For His Own Copyright Violations

from the funny-how-that-works dept

We found it rather ironic that, just as French President Nicolas Sarkozy was so adamant about passing a three strikes law to kick file sharers off the internet, he was being accused of copyright infringement himself, specifically for using music from the US band MGMT at an event and in two online videos without securing a license. Now, you might hope that this would cause Sarkozy to rethink his stance on copyright infringement. Instead, it looks like his political party has simply agreed to pay up and make the issue go away, while still pushing for the three strikes law. It sounds like they paid about 30,000 euros, which is a lot more than the single euro that Sarkozy's party initially offered (yes, seriously). No word on whether or not this counts towards the number of strikes on Sarkozy's internet connection.

Filed Under: copyright, france, mgmt, nicolas sarkozy

Is Nicholas Sarkozy One Strike Towards Losing His Internet Connection?

from the it's-always-those-politicians... dept

Why is it always the politicians who are pushing for stronger copyright laws that are caught infringing on the copyrights of others? The latest is that French President, Nicholas Sarkozy, a big supporter of setting up a three strikes law in France, is being accused of violating copyright law himself. Apparently, he used the music of an American band, MGMT, at an event and in two online videos. In the US, use at an event would be okay assuming that the venue had paid a standard performance license -- but use in the video would most likely be infringement. I'm not quite sure how France's current copyright laws match up, but it certainly does seem pretty questionable for a politician going on about the harm done by people sharing music without paying for it to be doing the same. So, the obvious question arises: does this mean Sarkozy is now only two strikes away from losing his internet connection? If he believe so strongly in such things, this shouldn't be a problem, right?

Filed Under: copyright, france, mgmt, nicholas sarkozy, three strikes