Things to Continue
1) Continue to be a thorn in the side of the RIAA and MPAA
2) Continue to act legally, but properly.
3) Continue to argue against the overblown rhetoric of the RIAA and MPAA when it comes to "piracy"
4) Continue to contact Congress and press for reform of copyright, eradication of the DMCA, and be a thorn in their side too.
5) Continue to support independent music and musicians.
6) Continue to tell our military that we support them, if not the war.
7) Continue to thank our great posters of articles and contributors for all their support and hard work.
8) Continue to add my modest voice to the ongoing dialogue here
9) Continue to look for ways of achieving parity for independent musicians and artists
10) Continue to update my various blogs

Things I want to discontinue or avoid
1) Avoid playing, purchasing, or otherwise dealing in RIAA affiliated tunes
2) Avoid cursing too much online and offline
3) Avoid overeating
4) Avoid generating more heat than light through my writings
5) Avoid trying to post too many comments in my own threads
6) Avoid sidetracking / derailing my own threads
7) Avoid making typos as much as possible
8) Avoid taking my friends, family, and blessings for granted
9) Avoid talking too much to loud and vexatious people
10)Avoid activities that would be illegal or fatal.

OK...it's a crappy list, but hey, it's my list.

Are you making any resolutions for 2005?

HAPPY NEW YEAR !
~CodeWarriorz Thoughts

#5, 6, 7, & 8 definitely...
and #3, 7, 8, & 10 too

I'd also like to help make Dmusic the best site for Indie Musicians on the web (although I think it already is )

onewhodreams
Sent you a Dmusic note...
Happy New Year my friend!

Code -- Numbers 3 and 4 in the first list seem to be cancelled out by #9 on the avoid list.

I have a few, but none so lofty as yours...
1) Do not skip medications.
2) No dwarf-tossing.
3) No more than 3 voices in my head at the same time unless they're singing harmonies.
4) Do not skip medications.
5) Do not forget Poland.
6) Annoy the Stupids.
7) Taunt the Dark Lords of the Dollar by laughing as the spiral of death they created pulls them ever deeper into meaninglessness.
Make light of the absurdities of the overly serious.
9) Continue not to take anything too seriously, which is actually easy to do as long as I remember...
10) Do not skip medications.

...LOL....you're right!

How about " Heal the Afflicted, and Afflict the Well Heeled"

Actually, avoid TALKING to loud and vexatious...email them!

Damn, I already broke #5 on the avoid list..and Yikes...with the first word of the post...broke number 2~

Good thing the new year hasn't started yet.

Heal the afflicted? Dammit, Code, I'm a musician, not a doctor.

whats the scoop on www.boycott-mpaa.com
I know leflaw owns it.

Definitely a known unknown.

Directive...Discussions about what will be done with boycott-mpaa.com have gone on...no final decision has been made as of yet, but at least, the MPAA didn't get it

maybe it can be about politics

Politics is so last month. The damage is done. The horse is out of the barn; the genie is out of the bottle; the baby is out with the bathwater.

However, movies are much more political than music. And it'll get even more so as it gets closer to 2008.

Unless Bruce Springsteen decides to run against Arnold.

Q.E.D.

Good list CodeWarrior!!


Be well.........be safe...........


Mike

Q.E.D.

Good list CodeWarrior!!


Be well.........be safe...........


Mike

My New Year's Resolutions:
1) Not to make any resolutions I can't/won't keep.
2)

Tsk, tsk... You forgot Poland...

I'd pretty much have to agree with ShadowMom here. I have very low motivation.

Why not just pay .99 cents for a download to a song? It's legal and you get the song? No worries about the music business suing you for stealing their work?

Why pay .99 for ones and zeros that total "CRAPOLA" when there are lots of great independent artists with fresh songs here at DMusic.

RIAA slave music..."Just Say No"

Stealing is not the same as alleged copyright infringement. Learn to read Copyright Law....you will find a full copy at:
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/

Definition of stealing /steal
http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/s074.htm
"STEAL - the wrongful or willful taking of money or property belonging to someone else with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently. No particular type of movement or carrying away is required.

Any appreciable change in the location of the property with the necessary willful intent constitutes a stealing whether or not there is any actual removal of it from the owner's premises."

No appreciate change in the location of the property itself need occur. There is no deprivation of use of a song file if someone copies it.

If copyright infringement was stealing, then when you copy a few pages of a book at the library, without the copyright owner's consent, they could and should send the police after you and there should be a charge of theft..but that is not the case, and the RIAA has not filed any charges of theft against any alleged song downloader or uploader....only DMCA copyright infringement is alleged.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

My new years resolution:


Boycott-riaa will be revamped
Boycott-mpaa will be launched...




soon.....

Please re-read the portion of the article that says:
"Things I want to discontinue or avoid
1) Avoid playing, purchasing, or otherwise dealing in RIAA affiliated tunes"

ROCK ON...the King has Spoken!

Lef rulez!

I hope in the new year, Boycott RIAA will ease up on the politics at least a little bit. I feel guilty for starting the whole mess with a couple articles in the first place, and it's actually the reason I left for a while. I would have written quite a few articles since then, but I couldn't stand it anymore.

I hope to write a few soon, but only if you people behave yourselves and clean up the site of the constant posting of irrelevant articles. Posting every article that crosses your path helpes to destroy the fabric of the site and more and more people get lost in nonsense...

Politics is at the heart of the music industry; in fact, politics is way too much a part of our lives now. It is one of those things that should not be, but is. You cannot discuss the RIAA without discussing politics. And yeah, once in a blue moon (about every 4 years or so) we may get sidetracked, but you just never know what may pop up when you have a free and open forum. And I could never ever forget Poland!!!! I DREAM about Poland, Lachatte!

No hints, leflaw????? Not even a little one??????

Some might contend that politics is a universal component of everything...inescapable. Certainly, organized religion is a political matter, and the RIAA is nothing if not political.

But, here's some other quotes about politics as a prevalent part of life..

"Politics: A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

- Ambrose Bierce, "The Devil's Dictionary,1911"
-------------------SNIP----------------------
Politics really deals with the fact that in all human interactions, there usually is some form of politics going on. Politics is about power....who has it exerted on them, and who exerts that power. Every big company I've worked at churned daily with power struggles and political machinations, often instigated by Junior Machiavelli wannabes.

It is myopic to think that politics is just about whether one is Democratic or Republican, but, to the extent that the country, and all aspects of its day to day functioning from health care to the working of the military, are controlled by one party or the other, or the result of the interplay between, yes, most things do involve the Dems and Repubs, and their ongoing struggle to obtain a dominant position of power.

It is not some purely altruistic drive that draws people like Hatch or Lamar Smith into the filesharing or internet arena.

Where there is money to be made, favors to be traded, or people to be controlled by laws, there is the shadow of the political machine, lurking, slithering, creeping...

Politics is human life. We see it in the interaction of siblings, in the husband-wife relationship...and , is as old as the first man who bullied another man into doing what he wanted him to do...

I agree that politics comes up, but it got out of hand, and that's why you never saw any more articles from me... and I became a ghost.

It might be a little much to keep posting irrelevant articles. Articles pertaining to the subject at hand should be the only ones, really...

" Why not just pay .99 cents for a download to a song?"

Pay for a download to a song? That's interesting.
I have to repost an earlier comment from Hilary Rosen...

"If you're using KaZaA today, you're getting, in my view, a crappy quality song -- not what the artist did in the studio, not what they wanted you to hear, not their finest work."

I've give you a quarter.

"It's legal and you get the song?"
Tens of thousands of songs at dmusic. All free. All legal. You get the song without the DRM.

Great taste. Less filling.

"No worries about the music business suing you for stealing their work?"

Never have worried about it. I never allow "illegal music" in my house, on my computer or even on the radio. Steal their work?

I'd rather snort anthrax.

Damn right. I've got a thousand times (probably literally dead-on with the estimate) free, legal music than their music. All the music of theirs that I have is at least 2 years old, and I bought it. Now I don't pay attention to their music unless I'm listening to an internet radio station (also free and legal), or a friend or family member has it.

undeath, what exactly is the "subject at hand"?

I've been coming here for a few years now. Is there anything that we can say after the next round of lawsuits that hasn't already been said?

One has merely to watch the comments of our newest industry troll to see that it has all been wasted effort. They hear nothing, they see nothing, they know nothing.

Except pirates and thieves. Incessantly. For 83 years.

For 2005, I intend to give the RIAA the same respect it extends to independent musicians. It's time to extend my personal boycott to the point where I will no longer acknowledge their existence.

For my money, it's time to talk about anything BUT the music business. Those two words don't belong together anyway.

Exactly, George. And an early Happy New Year to all!!

"Boycott-riaa will be revamped
Boycott-mpaa will be launched..."

Does that mean me? You mean I gotta kick the mpaa's ass too?

(Well, ok. I hate the MPAA almost as much as the RIAA and shall rise to the task!)




Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

...sorry to all the folks to whom my/Leflaw's comments sound "cryptic" ...but Shmoo is about to march off to war and the battle plans (which this soldier only currently recieves only on a "need to know" basis) perhaps need be kept "secret" for the time being!

...but 1 hint I am aware of I shall disclose!

Shmoo is being promoted to the rank of general/field marshal. Be prepared for utter devotion and dedication to my duties!

Shmoo, of Electric Gypsy
Support Local and Independent Music!

I agree w/ George.

I agree about ignoring the RIAA and industry. After all the "ignore" = the "boycott" in boycott-riaa...

but George, Code, everybody... we are NOT just here to bitch back and forth between each other in some private hidden-away box. We are also here for the folks who are new that want to learn MORE about the war against those evil figgers we are giving the cold shoulder.

George, you say the sheep don't care. For the most part, you are correct. BUT...

We at boycott and related sites HAVE made a "dent" and we DO have influence. It may have waned a bit recently (mostly during the election frenzy recently passed) BUT, that does NOT mean that in 2005 this site can't rock the world.

Changes are a'commin.

George, you and Code are 2 of our most visible/influential members. I hope you BOTH continue to contribute to the effort.

Shmoo is comming! I will kick ass and take names!
The RIAA will KNOW the meaning of fear before I am done. I may be a small hick from East Tennessee, but I have the visitors and members of this site at my back.

The RIAA is going down anyhow, even if WE never existed...

...but WE are gonna make 'em go away even QUICKER! The world has been under their dominion far too long already.

Thanks for the link CodeWarrior. I was looking for such documents, but not having much luck finding them on my own.
I see what you are saying about copyright infringment as opposed to stealing.
Still digesting that though. Very technical for me.
Never new DMusic existed!! That is so AWESOME!!!!

gdZiemann-I myself do not worry about being sued that much. I do not download a lot and when I do, it is usually theme songs, sound tracks, stuff that is not ordinarily main stream pop music (or however you want to classify todays current music).
However I do have a teenage sister who downloads songs like crazy, and now starting to get into movies. I'm not sure how much she has, but I'm afraid she may get caught. (Yes I am aware such odds are small, but if you're the one getting stuck with th hot potato....)
But I am having fun with this Dmusic site.

Resolutions (in no particular order):
1. Lose a few pounds (who DOESN'T have that one on their list).
2. Drink more.
3. Smoke more good cigars.
4. Keep work from driving me to repeat #2 as often as possible.
5. Spend more time with my spouse & less time in front of the computer.
6. Tolerate more stupidity from those around me without getting bent out of shape.
7. Prowl more indie music sites like Dmusic after #5 is complete & spend less time flaming folks on message boards.

I'm sure more good ideas will come to mind tonight as I'm finishing that fifth bottle of Grey Goose earmarked for my personal entertainment...

Happy New Year everyone.

"Avoid making typos as much as possible"

That's not a bad resolution, but typos are forgivable in the comments, much more than the main article, where typos should be punishable by slow torture. Has anyone else noticed a vast increase in the number of typos in major newspapers and magazines? I find quite a few on the New York Times website and CBSMarketwatch.com. It seems I encounter them once or twice a week, when I used to find them only once in a blue moon.

Happy New Year, everyone!
Code, that's a great list.
You're a wonderful "thorn".
I haven't made a list of resolutions yet. I have one so far: I will continue to educate myself and others about the music "business" (industry) and existing laws that deal with copyrights and patents, while fighting against laws that want MORE restrictions and stiffer penalties against individuals.

Undeath, I was wondering where you were...Although I understand your point about the divisiveness that comes from bitter political articles and posts, it's the source of power that we have to confront. The RIAA has become so powerful because our legislators (politicians) have given it to them. And people like me had no clue what was going on.

Code said: "Where there is money to be made, favors to be traded, or people to be controlled by laws, there is the shadow of the political machine, lurking, slithering, creeping..."
Great post, Code. I always look forward to your comments! Thanks for the education that you, George, Tom, and others have given me over the past year and a half!

Auto: I agree with you about the typos. Ever see typos scroll across the tv screen? Yeeeshhh...

MyAmerica: Put aside 20 minutes or so and watch and listen to this: http://www.eff.org/IP/freeculture/free.html

And read this: http://www.osviews.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=789

MyAmerica,

Let's take the 99c Download for a sec.
All of the sites ( nearly ) 99c.
Whichever company sponsors them,
99c.
The "product" catalog ?
Almost identical, regardless of who sponsors the
"legitimate" site ( note: I use that term
with as much sarcasm that can possibly be
conveyed in print ).

Now, look again at DMusic.
Is the work there comparable or better than the
"legitimate" avenues ??
Of course it is.
You hadn't heard any of it before, had you ?
Why isn't DMusic content on those "Legitimate" sites ?
Is it less "Legitimate" ?

Not at all.

It is COMPETITION for the "Legitimate" industry.
It is competition that is distributed, largely,
thru the P2P channels that the "Legitimate" world is trying to shut down.

Once those doors are closed, only the "Legitimate" avenues will be left.
Who is the gatekeeper there ?
How would one get from Dmusic to the
life of the "Legit"

Simple, play the game THEIR way, sign THEIR
contracts, agree to THEIR terms and make
damn sure that they get THEIR cut.

Thats why 99c is no good.
It only works if EVERYONE is allowed access to the benefits of the 99c.
Equal ... Access.
The RIAA craps it's pants at the thought of fair and equal.

And so we fart in their general direction.

My wish list for 2005:

1) A lot more of the public realizing that the music industry declared war on consumers and see these
consumers strike back with furry.
2) A vast majority of people sued by the RIAA law suit refusing to settle calling off their bluffs.
3) Some RIAA infested online music services out of business.
4) Raid on the majors headquarters worldwide.
5) Disappearance of at least 2 majors.
6) Even more business growth for the independent labels not RIAA member such as Naxos. (I will do my
share on this one!)

By the way someone talking about Respecting the law? Fine with me but which law? Are you talking
about the one just destroyed by the music industry?

One more New Year's resolution: I never watch Faux News, and never read any of her columns, but last night out of sheer boredom, I read Ann Coulter's column online. I swear on the head of my firstborn child,I will never do that again, no matter how bored I get.

thats a lot of reolutions, lol. now i feel bad cause i dont have any!

but i always either dont stay committed to them or forget them, hehe. so oh wells

good luck with your resolutions tho!!