Mountain View,
Calif. – Google (NASD: GOOG) has deleted
several long-running music blogs hosted on its Blogger service without prior
warning, citing multiple copyright infringement notices from record labels. The
owners of Pop Tarts, Masala, I Rock Cleveland, To Die By Your Side, It’s a Rap
and Living Ears today found years of posts deleted with the following
explanation from Google. "We’d like to inform you that we’ve received
another complaint regarding your blog. Upon review of your account, we’ve noted
that your blog has repeatedly violated Blogger’s Terms of Service … [and] we’ve
been forced to remove your blog. Thank you for your understanding."
PaidContent reports that several of the blog owners maintain that they have
received DMCA takedown notices in the past for songs they were legally entitled
to post.
"I assure you that everything I’ve posted for, let’s say, the
past two years, has either been provided by a promotional company, came
directly from the record label, or came directly from the artist," I Rock
Cleveland owner Bill Lipold wrote to Google in a letter.
"Whether this is
the result of miscommunication by staff at the record label, or confusion over
which MP3s are ‘official,’ it happens," Google product manager Rick Klau explained in a
response on the Blogger blog.
"If this happens to you, it is imperative
that you file a DMCA counter-claim so we know you have the right to the music
in question. Otherwise, if we receive multiple DMCA complaints for your blog,
this could very well constitute repeat offenses, compelling us to take action."
The issue is being discussed on Twitter under the hashtag #Musicblogocide2k10.
Related Links:
http://buzz.blogger.com/2010/02/quick-note-about-music-blog-removals.html
http://snipurl.com/uc9if
(I Rock Cleveland)
http://snipurl.com/uc98p
(PaidContent)
