Copyright Conflict: The Aftermath

Three weeks ago, I fired off an email to the IFPI, who had ordered a DMCA takedown notice for the entirety of Aurgasm’s music.

Through some back-n-forth, I was informed that the IFPI’s complaint was only addressing three songs, not all of the music. (In particular, they didn’t like the An Pierlé and the Lily Allen music being shared.) I decided to seek permission for those two artists with which I could then file a counter-notification back at the IFPI. I tried getting in touch with An Pierlé’s management at PIAS/Helicopter, but a response never came from the contact points I found. Lily’s representation proved a little more accessible. Although they did give me permission; it was granted reluctantly and only for a week’s time.

Now, since the complaint was regarding three songs, I could reinstate the rest of the music archive. For now, I’m going to hold off on that and continue to post music we have explicit permission to share. I’m going to be making a few upgrades to Aurgasm quite soon that will improve the whole experience for music fans and copyright holders. Stay tuned.

In Other News

I’ve learned that Aurgasm got a shout-out in Britain’s National Newspaper of the Year, The Guardian. We were mentioned in the sidebar about soul music blogs in The Guardian Guide this last Saturday, Nov 19. It’s not online and my local libraries don’t have it, so if any of my British brethren can hook me up with a scan of it, I’d be most appreciative.

Update! Updates!

(11/22) My good man Duncan hooked me up with a scan of the pages. (Thank you!) Check em out:

(11/27) …and we just got in a scan of Southwest Airline’s in-flight magazine Spirits, who ran an article on mp3 blogs. Aurgasm and a few of my excellent brothers were included:

15 Responses to “Copyright Conflict: The Aftermath”

  1. Paul Irish :

    Some technical details
    Web geeks might enjoy a little bit more of the backstory I uncovered:
    + On October 24th, the Open Dir blog, which features open directories of mp3s to download, happened to mention my music directory. (This reddit page archived the feed)
    + On October 26th (two days later), I got the DMCA notice from the IFPI via my host, Dreamhost.
    + On October 28th, the opendir blog (opendir.blogspot.com) disappeared and was mysteriously replaced with a celebrity news blog.

    What’s the lesson? Don’t leave directories of sensitive files wide open.

    Also a big thanks to my buddies at the ‘vanilla’ forum.

  2. Hilco Klinkert :

    Good luck upgrading and expanding, which will probably cost you a lot of time besides actual work ;) But I’m sure it will be appreciated. By me in any case.

  3. runman :

    Damn, so that’s what happened to opendir.
    I’ve grown quite comfortable with the look of aurgasm, don’t mess it up when you re-hash Paul :))

  4. Anonymous :

    This might help a bit
    http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=aurgasm+site%3Aguardian.co.uk&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

  5. moka :

    glad to see everything’s being solved-. Keep up the good work, Paul :]

  6. chris :

    Thank you for pursuing this. It makes me happy.

  7. ndavies :

    I was a bit surprised during my flight home this morning to find your blog featured in Southwest Airlines’ inflight magazine. Think it even had a quote, so I assume you’re aware.

  8. Paul Irish :

    Nick, I had no idea! And my brother flew Southwest today, but said he didn’t page all the way through. He’s gonna pick up a copy on the way back. Great news! thank you, sir.

  9. Jamina :

    I’ll be looking forward to the update :D I’m glad this whole conflict didn’t end up as bad as it could have been.

  10. Gunnar :

    Keep it coming, Paul!
    Thanks.
    /G

  11. jennings :

    Keep on man . . . Aurgasm is one of the best.

  12. negmedeen :

    hey, yeah, I found out about you through Southwest’s inflight mag on the way to a gig…was already a big fan of soul sides so thought I’d check this out

  13. Scarlet :

    congrats on the press, and good luck with this copyright shite.

  14. matt :

    Yo Paul !

    CONGRATS! on the Guardian and Southwest Airline articles. As Borat would say . . .”Very Nice!”

    glad the copyright issues are more or less sorted out. Hard to imagine that most artists (except the major labeled) wouldn’t want the major exposure you provide.

    –cheers

  15. Anonymous :

    I found this site shortly before the copy right issue. I bought the Lily Allen CD based on the strength of the songs I found here. BTW, love the site. It is how I find new music now.