Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

News for nerds, stuff that matters

Canadian Music Stars Fight Against DRM

Posted by samzenpus on Wed Apr 26, 2006 07:34 PM
from the it's-ok-to-share-eh dept.
An anonymous reader writes "Some of Canada's best known musicians, including Avril Lavigne, Sarah McLachlin, Sum 41, and Barenaked Ladies, have formed a new copyright coalition. The artists say in a press release that they oppose file sharing lawsuits, the use of DRM, and DMCA-style legislation and that they want record labels to stop claiming that they represent their views."
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold:
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • well duh (Score:5, Funny)

    by MrP- (45616) <rob@@@elitemrp...net> on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:36PM (#15209013)
    (http://elitemrp.net/)
    of course avril would be against DRM.. she's a l33t h4x0r with songs like "Sk8er Boi"
    • Re:well duh by Chuqmystr (Score:1) Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:54PM
      • Re:well duh (Score:5, Funny)

        by rikkards (98006) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:58PM (#15209407)
        (Last Journal: Thursday January 05 2006, @07:19AM)
        Avril Lavigne? So we have Canada to blame for this pox. First Celine and now Avril. C'mon Canada, what the hell did we ever do to you? Well, other than that lil' Southpark song thingie... Please, for the love of humanity, take her back and freaking keep her. Perhaps there should be DRM up there. It should keep Avril Lavigne songs from being played anywhere but within the Canadian borders and at the same time prevent any music but hers from playing within the Canadian boarders. That'll teach 'em!


        4 words buddy.
        Britney Spears and nSync

        Don't throw stones when you live in a glass house
        [ Parent ]
        • Re:well duh (Score:5, Funny)

          by Meagermanx (768421) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:12PM (#15209464)
          ...and with those words, the great Slashdot Canada/USA Music Flamewar of '06 broke out. It was truly the "post read 'round the world."
          [ Parent ]
          • Re:well duh (Score:5, Funny)

            by TubeSteak (669689) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:26PM (#15209518)
            (Last Journal: Saturday February 25 2006, @11:02PM)
            ...and with those words, the great Slashdot Canada/USA Music Flamewar of '06 broke out. It was truly the "post read 'round the world."
            As a result, Ponies everywhere were found alone, disheveled and crying because their owners left in order to defend Avril from the most heinous Chuqmystr.
            [ Parent ]
            • Re:well duh by Warg! The Orcs!! (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @02:12AM
              • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
          • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
        • People in glasshouses by Pale Dude (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @03:40AM
        • Re:well duh by jaypaulw (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:38AM
        • Glass House... by PhYrE2k2 (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @11:45AM
        • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:3) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:33PM
          • Re:well duh by Nondescrypt (Score:1) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:38PM
            • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:43PM
          • Re:well duh by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:43PM
            • DOH by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:45PM
            • Re:well duh by SomeGuyTyping (Score:1) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:48PM
              • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:51PM
              • Re:well duh by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:17PM
                • Re:well duh by SomeGuyTyping (Score:1) Sunday April 30 2006, @10:27PM
                  • Re:well duh by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Monday May 01 2006, @12:25AM
                    • Re:well duh by SomeGuyTyping (Score:1) Tuesday May 02 2006, @07:52AM
                      • Re:well duh by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Friday May 05 2006, @09:37PM
              • Hook, Line and Sinker... by idsofmarch (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @12:04PM
              • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
            • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:54PM
              • Re:well duh by dgatwood (Score:3) Wednesday April 26 2006, @11:09PM
                • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @01:05AM
                  • Re:well duh by vux984 (Score:3) Thursday April 27 2006, @04:12AM
                    • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @07:13AM
                      • Re:well duh by Mo Bedda (Score:3) Thursday April 27 2006, @09:18AM
                      • Re:well duh by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:24AM
                  • Re:well duh by somersault (Score:3) Thursday April 27 2006, @05:51AM
                    • Re:well duh by bhirsch (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @07:20AM
                      • Re:well duh by Em Adespoton (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @11:39AM
                    • Re:well duh by schlick (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @12:53PM
                      • Re:well duh by somersault (Score:2) Friday April 28 2006, @04:53AM
                  • Re:well duh by dgatwood (Score:2) Friday April 28 2006, @12:05AM
                • Re:well duh by Thaelon (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:11AM
                • An idea by bufalo_1973 (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:24AM
              • Re:well duh by Grey Ninja (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:10PM
            • Re:well duh by Gorshkov (Score:3) Thursday April 27 2006, @04:15AM
              • Re:well duh by Warg! The Orcs!! (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @03:36PM
            • Re:well duh by ravenshrike (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:09AM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:well duh (Score:5, Funny)

        by gstoddart (321705) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:45PM (#15209589)
        (http://slashdot.org/)
        Avril Lavigne? So we have Canada to blame for this pox. First Celine and now Avril. C'mon Canada, what the hell did we ever do to you? Well, other than that lil' Southpark song thingie...

        The Partridge Family. Full House. Mini Pops. Ricky Martin. Bob Barker. Fox News. Everybody loves Raymond. McDonalds. American Idol. Oprah (and Dr. Phil). Paris Hilton. That Kato guy. The list goes on ...

        We exported Celine Dion and Avril Lavigne to see if you'd get the joke. People keep buying tickets, so apparently not.

        Oh, and BTW, you can keep Howie Mandell and Alex Trebeck too. We want Shatner back though. ;-)
        [ Parent ]
        • Re:well duh (Score:5, Funny)

          by chrismcdirty (677039) on Thursday April 27 2006, @08:00AM (#15211355)
          (http://gumbercules.net/)
          Blame Mexico for Ricky Martin. He was in Menudo long before he regained popularity in the 90s.

          And you can have Shatner back if we can keep Evangeline Lilly and Elisha Cuthbert. Deal?
          [ Parent ]
          • Re:well duh by dazilla (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:57AM
          • Re:well duh by B11 (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:38AM
          • Re:well duh by hummassa (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @11:44AM
        • Bob Barker?!? by Deagol (Score:3) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:02AM
        • Idol is British by Phatboy (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @11:49AM
        • Re:well duh by gstoddart (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @01:00PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:well duh by ma0sm (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:48AM
      • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • maybe drm isn't that bad... by thechronic (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @12:38AM
    • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • For once (Score:5, Funny)

    by SirLestat (452396) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:36PM (#15209016)
    I am from Quebec and finally proud to be Canadian ! Way to go guys !
  • Serious question (Score:3, Interesting)

    by HeavensBlade23 (946140) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:39PM (#15209037)
    If Sarah McLachlan opposes DRM so much why did she have it on one of her CDs? As a matter of fact the CD I'm talking about was one of the Sony rootkit CDs.
    • Re:Serious question (Score:5, Insightful)

      by sinclair44 (728189) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:41PM (#15209049)
      (http://www.watzmanassociates.com/josh/)
      It may not have been her choice, or she may have not even known about it until it was too late. I imagine that the people in charge of such things don't really care what the artists think, as long as they get their piles money.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Serious question by Xuranova (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:42PM
    • My first guess. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:43PM (#15209059)
      That would be a question to ask Sarah McLachlan, and as far as I am aware, Sarah McLahlan does not read slashdot. If you ask the question here, she will not see it.

      However my guess would be that it is something along the lines of
      1. Her label did it, not her
      2. She is opposed to her label having done it, and
      3. This is why she is starting a public pressure group specifically designed to get her label to stop doing such things.
      Perhaps you will suggest that Sarah McLachlan should have used her leverage as an artist with the label to prevent them from engaging in such practices with her music at the time the CD was released. If you do this, I will laugh until I pass out from lack of oxygen.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:My first guess. (Score:5, Insightful)

        You may be half right on some of those. It's important to note that "she" (McLachlan) is not the one actually starting it. However she is among the artists who support it.

        First: most of those artists are either on the Nettwerk label (McLachlan) or are managed or co-managed by Nettwerk (LaVigne, BNL, McLachlan, Raine Maida, Kreviazuk, Sum41). That makes it pretty obvious that two things are actually happening:

        1) The artists, while feeling pretty hosed about how much rampant downloading is still going on, are not so hard-hit by that action that they feel outraged.

        2) They do actually have some say about this since they are money-making artists on predominantly major-distributed labels.

        I think that second point is key. Every major label artist, by that I mean one signed directly to an international major label, featuring international mass distribution, has either remained silent about this issue or has been so outspoken against downloading in particular that they've greatly damaged their fanbase ([cough]Metallica[/cough].)

        Yes, most of these artists are on independent labels (biggest exceptions: Lavigne is on Arista, BNL are on Warner.) However that does not exclude them from major international distributorship (Nettwerk is distributed by EMI. Sloan is distributed by Sony / BMG. Most of the others have major distributors for their releases.) Whether you like Avril Lavigne's music or not, she is a top-five-selling artist who has joined this group of artists to make it known: she still doesn't agree with the tactics her major label is claiming to represent by suing her fans.

        If it were a smaller artist - say: Harvey Danger, who actually allowed full on torrent files of their album to be released with no restrictions whatsoever last year - the attention payed to that motive is slight, and the response is usually "Big deal, who's heard of them? What difference will that make?"

        I get the feeling that this is more likely a management / publishing mandate, with some artist buy-in. Nettwerk also handles or has a great deal to say about the publishing for all of these artists.

        Interesting development. Maybe we'll finally get the music industry that consumers actually want, instead of this cat and mouse crap. Anything that goes a step or two towards evening the playing field when it comes to this industry is definitely a good thing. The last thing we need (which we have now) is another five Nickelbacks getting mass airplay on radio and then hearing them and their label and agents complaining that sales are down strictly because of downloading.

        ad
        [ Parent ]
      • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Serious question by salle_from_sweden (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:49PM
    • Re:Serious question by Mitsoid (Score:1) Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:50PM
    • Re:Serious question by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:54PM
    • Re:Serious question by supertoad (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:40PM
    • Re:Serious question by 2bigtux (Score:1) Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:00PM
    • Re:Serious question by magisterx (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @04:48AM
    • Re:Serious question by jeffasselin (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:58AM
      • MOD PARENT UP by Abcd1234 (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @03:28PM
    • switchfoot didn't have a choice either by mackil (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @10:45AM
    • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • Why don't American artist replicate this type of coalition? We let Canada beat us!! Canada!
    • by TubeSteak (669689) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:23PM (#15209242)
      (Last Journal: Saturday February 25 2006, @11:02PM)
      Don't worry, we've got contigency plans for this type of thing.

      Canada's low gun ownership rate will make the occupation much easier.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:repeat in america please.... (Score:5, Informative)

        by udowish (804631) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:35PM (#15209303)
        (Last Journal: Friday November 05 2004, @12:57PM)
        actually your are not correct. Canadians own more guns per capita than people from the US. Bring it on!
        [ Parent ]
        • AMERICA FTW! (Score:5, Funny)

          by Shihar (153932) on Thursday April 27 2006, @12:09AM (#15210157)
          The American have a secret weapon though. We will enter one of your clean cities fully armed and then when confronted we will start to litter. As you Canadians desperately try to pick up our empty cans of shitty American beer and bring them to a recycling station you will be completely vulnerable to our cop killing FMJ semi-automatic assault rifles, grotesquely large hand guns, and the odd red neck wielding a bazooka or machine gun that he bought before they were made illegal.

          Canadians fleeing to the recycling station with shitty American beer cans in hand will be easy picking off by our highly skilled red neck population. While our gansta/thug population might be a little questionable in their aim, they will make up for it with round output and shear enthusiasm at being given the chance to bust a cap in yo cracker ass. To the Canadians defense though, our skinny white guy wanna be rappers from the 'burbs will likely take out a few Americans as they hold guns bigger then their head sideways and shoot like fucking retards.

          We will send then send in the upper middle suburban punks dressed in 200+ dollar outfits of pre-ripped black jeans, black shirts with an obscure band on it, and metal studs randomly glued on to their clothing to clean up the mess. They will hunt down the surviving Canadians in a desperate attempt to retrieve the empty cans of shitty American beer in the hopes of draining the last drops of swill that might be left at the bottom of the can. The wrist scarred (across the street style, not down the highway) teenaged girls , feminine teenaged guys, and sketchy 40 year old men goths at that point will come out to add insult to injury by read shitty poetry about death and try to one up each other by doing grotesque things to the corpses.

          Have no fear though, us Americans are not without compassion and mercy. We will blast some shitty (is there any other type?) emo music over the battlefield and send the emo kids out. They will promptly start to cry. True, they are crying at the memory of their long lost sixth grade girlfriend and lamenting at the difficulty of their inhumanly difficult life living in suburban America, but we can pretend they are crying for lost Canadian souls.

          Oh hell, what is a little karma. At least I amuse myself.
          [ Parent ]
          • by erbmjw (903229) on Thursday April 27 2006, @12:56AM (#15210304)
            Ha ha silly Americans! You think that by dropping shitty American empty beer cans on our pristine cities and heavenly nature reserves that we Canadians will respond with a recycling program ... well then, you should have picked plastic as your litter of choice!

            The mere sight of crappy American beer cans {empty or not} brings out the deeply cherished Canadian Hockey Fan in every person who has spent at least one hockey season in Canada.

            Sticks will appear {seemingly from nowhere}, pucks will fly faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a speeding locomotive {yeah the big "S" was invented in Canada}, and to add insult to injury skate blades will be used to run over your multitudes, twitching, soon to be remains.

            After this induced frenzy has calmed, we Canadains will then politley bandaged any surviving Americans {not many}, administer Tim Horton's coffee and donuts to stablize them, and return them to their home state for medical care.

            On the bright side though, the American emo kids will still be there to cry over your remains - primarily because we Canadains are polite and so don't pick on the whiners. Oh that and we'll need the emo kids to carry the empty American beer cans back across the border!

            Both your and my karma are now rapidly dropping, but at least you amused me!

            :)
            [ Parent ]
          • Re:AMERICA FTW! by bilbravo (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:21AM
          • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
        • Re:repeat in america please.... by hyfe (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @01:32AM
        • Re:repeat in america please.... by DrugCheese (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:12AM
        • Not true by Dire Bonobo (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @07:09PM
        • Re:repeat in america please.... by papal_authority (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:46PM
        • Re:repeat in america please.... by Dire Bonobo (Score:2) Thursday April 27 2006, @07:07PM
        • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:repeat in america please.... by Kenshin (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:36PM
      • 3 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:repeat in america please.... by S3pulchrav3 (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @10:27PM
    • Re:repeat in america please.... by RickySan (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:05AM
    • Re:repeat in america please.... by tooloftheoligarchy (Score:1) Thursday April 27 2006, @08:49AM
    • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • by QX-Mat (460729) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:43PM (#15209062)
    I took it back to Woolworths the week I brought it. It skipped badly on my Sony Vaio - my computer is my audio rig, and with the speaks I had hooked up at the time, I certainly wanted it to stay that way.

    Just last week I saw the Sarah McLachlan DVD and thought, "stupid drm" and not about the artist. I will force myself to see her in a better light now, but if she's not touring near me, I can't exactly give her the money I want to (by buying her material) because although she's going the right away about things _now_, her cds on the shelf are still DRMed.

    In the end I was forced to I download Afterglow. I became a pirate because I couldnt experience the music on my, and on my creative zen.

    For an artist I discovered via napster a long time ago, this sure does suck. Are they trying to lock me out of the market, or really fence us into a no-rip-no-choice era? Either way I see it, when I can't use WhateverAMP and my mp3 player, they've lost me as a customer.

    Matt
  • Missing Artist (Score:3, Funny)

    by kloffinger (837670) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:45PM (#15209074)
    TFA: "Canada's leading artists to speak for themselves."
    Yet there is no mention of Bryan Adams.
    What kind of a hoax is this?
  • "Piracy" is good for the RIAA (Score:5, Insightful)

    by javacowboy (222023) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:49PM (#15209086)
    (http://www.geocities.com/bohemianbrewbaron)
    I was going to blog about this, but I'm feeling lazy tonight.

    First of all, like RMS, I hate applying the term "piracy" to non-commercial copyright violations, so I won't use that term. Instead, I'll call it what it is, unauthorized copying.

    Unauthorized copying is to the RIAA what "terrorism" is to the Bush Adminstration, namely, a scapegoat and a straw man argument with which to justify draconian legislation and to garner (barely) sufficient public support for any new legislation favoured by both institutions.

    As the Bush Adminstration maintains the conditions (ex: War on Iraq) to indirectly promote terrorism, it justifies renewing the Patriot Act on the basis that it will "help stop terrorism". To make a blatantly obvious statement, the goal of the Patriot Act does not in any way, shape, or form have anything whatsoever to do with stop terrorists, but is instead intended to grant the government the ability to further spy on and control its citizens.

    In the same vein, I believe that the RIAA wishes to maintain a certain level of unauthorized copying because it will allow them to justify legislation such as the DMCA and the broadcast flag. The goal of such legislation is not to eliminate or even substantially reduce unauthorized copying, but to maintain control over the industry and keep out fledging competitors, such as independent artists who would have otherwise been promoted through P2P, and to maintain their antiquated business models, which for all intents and purposes should have become obsolete.

    So, it's all an elaborate shell game on their part.
  • by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:49PM (#15209087)
    from their record contracts.

    Several of Sarah McLachlan's CDs are DRM'd:

    http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/archives/004144.php [eff.org]
    http://hcs.harvard.edu/~freeculture/wiki/index.php /DRM [harvard.edu]

    (data unavailable for the other members, but it wouldn't surprise me), and almost all (Broken Social Scene and possibly a couple others being exceptions) are currently signed to RIAA/CRIA member labels. Most have released albums with those labels in the last couple years - i.e., since the campaign of lawsuits started.

    Put your money where your mouth is, folks.
  • by Stick_Fig (740331) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:50PM (#15209093)
    "...we wouldn't have to download torrents!"

    "But we would download torrents! In fact, we'd just download more!"
  • Irrelevant (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:55PM (#15209115)
    What the artists think is totally irrelevant in Canada. Downloading copyrighted music is completely legal here (for now).

    (Not to mention justified since consumers here pay a "pirate-tax" on all blank CD purchases, effectively paying for the music they might potentially "steal")
    • Re:Irrelevant by ScrewMaster (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:01PM
    • Re:Irrelevant by Kenshin (Score:2) Wednesday April 26 2006, @09:39PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Who will be the first to... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by TheDarkener (198348) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @07:57PM (#15209117)
    (http://youtube.com/thedarkener)
    ...Do this for the good ole' US of A? We *need* this. It's gotten to the point where art is directed by non-artists, and that's WRONG.
  • by AeroIllini (726211) <aeroilliniNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:00PM (#15209133)
    I think the record companies are blaming piracy because it's a solid business case.
    addDRM(music);
    switch (whatHappensAfter) {
      case "piracy goes down":
        println("See?! We TOLD you the evil pirates were stealing! DRM works!");
        addMoreDRM(music,movies,television,software);
        money++;
        break;
      case "piracy goes up":
        println("Ahh! They're stealing more to spite us! This is war!");
        addMoreDRM(music,movies,television,software);
        money++;
        break;
      case "piracy stays the same":
        println("Those filthy pirates will steal no matter what we do! We must make the DRM stronger!");
        addMoreDRM(music,movies,television,software);
        money++;
        break;
    }
    These artists just created a buffer overflow. Woo!
  • by brian0918 (638904) on Wednesday April 26 2006, @08:00PM (#15209136)
    It's no surprise that Avril Lavigne would do something like this... given her huge punk heritage and following, her fans would definitely get pissed off and leave her negative® text messages if she didn't rebel.