this one goes out...

Today we were contacted by the IFPI to discuss removal of the Cassette Set from Mediafire.

From: IFPI <notices@ifpi.org>

Date: June 8, 2012 9:34:42 AM PDT

To: xxxx
Subject: Removal of Mediafire link
Reply-To: notices@ifpi.org

To: Webmaster

               

From:

IFPI

notices@ifpi.org

               

Message:

Dear Sir,

               

Can you contact me via notices@ifpi.org to discuss how the mediafire link containing REM recordings was removed.

Regards,

Reply sent.  Will update with responses as needed.  Interesting to see if this was not initiated by Universal, but clearly feathers have been ruffled because I don't see the IFPI following up on random run-of-the-mill DMCA takedowns with personal emails to the alleged offenders.

country feedback

Lots of press on the last post.

First was Rolling Stone, I was starting to see pings on the blog at approximately 10am (EDT) from them.

Rolling Stone: R.E.M. Archive Blog Preemptively Shut Down by Universal
Label disputes post featuring the band's earliest demo cassette

Then they started coming in droves, mostly rehashes of the RS article but a few with original content (prefix, aux.tv, exclaim.ca...).

CNN: R.E.M. archive blog preemptively shut down by Universal (RS article feed)

prefixmag: R.E.M. Restoration Blog Pressured To Shut Down By Universal Over Material That The Label May Not Actually Own

aux.tv (Canada): Universal issues copyright takedown notice for songs it doesn’t own on R.E.M. archivist’s blog

exclaim.ca (Canada): R.E.M. Blog Shut Down After Questionable Copyright Claim from Universal

The best one though, as they actually did original research (err, they talked to us) was from Spin - which also presented the most balanced piece:

Spin: Fan's Digital R.E.M. Archive Nixed by Universal Music

Takedown notice thwarts latest project by audiophiles behind Joy Division/New Order blogs

And lastly, my favorite:

soundabble: R.E.M. Archive Blog Preemptively Shut Down by Universal

Here's the entirety of the Soundabble article, preserved just in case the editors realize the writer was beaming in from Mars (or felt that repeating the RS article was much more exciting if run through a loop of Google re-translations first):

The digital archivist who easy a singles catalogs of a Smiths, Joy Division and New Order in a array of blog projects is being strongly disheartened from starting a identical plan collecting R.E.M.’s beginning work. In a blog post on a nascent R.E.M.cycle site, a blogger famous as Analog Loyalist explained that Universal, a record association that owns a band’s IRS Records catalog, expelled a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice for an R.E.M. post on a writer’s sister site The Power of Independent Trucking featuring a easy chronicle of a band’s initial cassette demo, with early renditions of “Radio Free Europe,” “Sitting Still” and “White Tornado.”


“Tell me, what purpose does a IFPI (of that Universal is apparently a member) have to do with unreleased element available when a rope had no record contract?,” Analog Loyalist writes, referring to a International Federation of a Phonographic Industry. “These were demos openly given divided by a band. On low-fi C45 cassettes. And a IFPI thinks it’s their business how?”


The blogger is now reconsidering a knowledge of posterior a project. “So we can see since I’m really wavering to pierce brazen with this blog, usually since we don’t wish to see my efforts as a writer/archivist/engineer wasted,” he writes.


The site would in fact be a really labor-intensive process. As explained in a sidebar for a R.E.M., Smiths and Joy Division/New Order sites, a marks used are “taken from a best/earliest probable sources to equivocate complicated mastering techniques that vanquish a dynamics,” and a design is “scanned during a top probable fortitude and a form was reset when probable regulating a strange fonts.” All works featured in these projects are from out-of-print sources, and some marks have never been commercially expelled or reissued.

A rope has no record contract, indeed.

Update and thoughts...

Thank you all for being patient so far.

I have been having some second thoughts about this endeavour.  Namely, that R.E.M.'s IRS-controlled catalog is itself controlled by Universal, notorious for slapping down blogs and posts without mercy.

Today, I received the following DMCA takedown notice for - get this - the band's Cassette Set.

Tell me, what role does the IFPI (of which Universal is obviously a member) have to do with *unreleased* material recorded when the band had no record contract?

These were demos *freely* given away by the band.  On low-fi C45 cassettes.  And the IFPI thinks it's their business how?

It's possible they were so...err...frightened that "White Tornado" (which admittedly did see release, unmodified from the Cassette Set version, as a B-side and later on via Dead Letter Office) is - gasp - freely available they had to use the nuclear option.

So you can see why I'm very hesitant to move forward with this blog, only because I don't want to see my efforts as a writer/archivist/engineer wasted.

Please discuss.

The file "REM_CassetteSet_ALmaster.zip" has been suspended 

Dear MediaFire User:

MediaFire has received notification under the provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") that your usage of a file is allegedly infringing on the file creator's copyright protection.

The file named REM_CassetteSet_ALmaster.zip is identified by the key (14zk3yvi31mj3g5).

As a result of this notice, pursuant to Section 512(c)(1)(C) of the DMCA, we have suspended access to the file.

The reason for suspension was:

Under penalty of perjury, we submit that we are authorized to act on behalf of the IFPI Represented Companies in matters involving the infringement of their sound recordings, including enforcing their copyrights and common law rights on the Internet.

Information about the party that filed the report:

Company Name: IFPI
Contact Address: 10 Piccadilly London W1J 0DD United Kingdom
Contact Name:
Contact Phone:
Contact Email: notices@ifpi.org

Copyright infringement violates MediaFire's Terms of Service. MediaFire accounts that experience multiple incidents of alleged copyright infringement without viable counterclaims may be terminated.

If you feel this suspension was in error, please submit a counterclaim by following the process below.

Follow me, don't follow me...

Yes, this is what you think it is.

From the folks behind New Order / Joy Division Recycle, and then Extra Track (and a tacky badge), we present.... REMcycle.  Please be advised this is very much in its infancy; it could well be months until this becomes active.  I just wanted to grab the URL ;)

The full scope of this project is still in flux, though at the very least we will cover all the I.R.S.-era singles in all territories where unique singles were released.

So keep this in your blogrolls... ;)  See you soon!

-Analog Loyalist