On Being A Music Blogger

The last few weeks in the life of VLM haven’t been particularly easy ones. Seems like everything I write that has any kind of substance to it gets cut down by some RIAA prick citing DMCA. Look, I know that under the law, operating a blog like this is kind of illegal. From the outset I’ve never disputed that. I firmly believe that the rules are unfair and in desperate need of change, but that’s the way it is right now. My dad linked me this article from the Wall Street Journal a few weeks ago, and it more or less sums up my attitudes. The RIAA is trying to grab an entire beach’s worth of sand with its bare hands, and for the most part it’s all slipping through their fingers. And yet somehow in the last few weeks VLM keeps getting snatched up.

Some things to know about VLM and my web traffic: Based on the numbers I receive, Viva La Mainstream averages somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 readers a week. That stat is a bit wonky, since its hard to differentiate between people who come and read the blog and people who come to the blog while searching for some mp3 or image or something. On the Hype Machine this blog is way, way down on the list of hottest blogs. A vast majority of the time, by the time a story or leak appears on VLM, it’s been up at 20 other, more popular sites for several hours.

So, now I pose a largely rhetorical question; why is VLM perpetually taking the fall for posting mp3s? The logical answer (which I’ve discussed previously) is that someone at some record label has noted the blog as a spot to watch for potential DMCA violations. This doesn’t bother me so much. What bothers is me is the fact that this person/group, along with the RIAA as a whole, has shown a complete and utter lack of balls when it comes to this situation. They go crying to Blogger, who then go and tell me about it. And Blogger’s counter-complaint methods are so troublesome that trying to claim fair use or whatever is hardly worth the effort it’d take.
Now, I offer up a challenge to whoever’s got me in their crosshairs. Next time you see something objectionable that you want removed, before you go crying to Blogger, come to me. Leave a comment. Shoot me an email. Tell me that you’re taking issue with something and you’d like me to adjust my behavior. This is beneficial to both of us; you’ll get what you want, as I will take down any offending material when prompted to, and I get to keep the text of my entries intact (posting the Snow Patrol review three times in as many days was nothing short of irritating). I along with my fellow bloggers are actually agreeable people. If you treat us with some respect, we’re likely to do the same for you.

I’m well aware of the fact that the RIAA won’t do shit in response to that challenge. But I’m putting it out there anyway just in case someone with a brain and a pair of balls reads and is willing to treat me like a human being with something worthwhile to say, rather than a would-be scumbag criminal.

Thanks for reading to a frustrated blogger's ranting for a few minutes. Back a little later to keep this little game going.

==TJ==