Comments on Setting The Woods On Fire: One Last Post From An Old Blogger?

I recently came accross your blog and have been re...

2009-03-09T05:34:00.000-04:00

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Sarah

http://www.lyricsdigs.com

I don't know if you've read my own posts about thi...

2008-11-19T12:04:00.000-05:00

I don't know if you've read my own posts about this, but it would seem in most cases (at least in mine) that these claims aren't coming from the actual copyright holders. I had a post deleted that contained a completely legal mp3 - I had permission from the record label who held the copyright for the recording and they represent both the artist and the licensing company. I didn't receive any notice, just discovered the post was gone. The label encouraged me to file a counter claim with Google, which I have done.

Don't blame the artists or labels unless they actually admit to it. Google/Blogger isn't verifying the claims before they delete, so they could be coming from anyone.

Yeah. My bad. Accidentally deleted that one. No...

2008-11-16T22:25:00.000-05:00

Yeah. My bad. Accidentally deleted that one. No big deal. It was just a short post saying stay tuned because I've got something in the works.

Did I dream that there was a new post? Now it seem...

2008-11-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

Did I dream that there was a new post? Now it seems to be gone.

This is one of the best music blogs on the net. I'...

2008-11-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

This is one of the best music blogs on the net. I'm sad to see the site shut down for the moment... it seems very short-sighted of the recording industry to come down on a site that is promoting the purchase of music, rather than those that offer entire albums ripped.

Hope STWOF comes back!

Come back - where will I get my country music?

2008-11-10T17:23:00.000-05:00

Come back - where will I get my country music?

i can only pray the industry folks come to their s...

2008-11-10T15:23:00.000-05:00

i can only pray the industry folks come to their senses. the good work you and other music bloggers are doing is too valuable. your posting about that piece of mellowperfection by guy clark being a definite case in point. good luck!

Hey Paul,What a DAMN shame. I love this place, and...

2008-11-07T00:00:00.000-05:00

Hey Paul,

What a DAMN shame. I love this place, and I love the way we get to share our love for music through blogs like Setting the Woods on Fire. You've turned me onto many great tracks and encouraged a number of purchases of things I may not have otherwise purchased. You put you heart into this place every time you post, and it's people like you and your readers who keep music more important and meaninful than any marketing team will ever do. Best of luck with these current hassles. I hope there's a way the industry can make peace with what some of us do. Those sites that do nothing but post zipped new releases have more to answer for, but you're giving more than any of us are taking.

Thanks for the contribution you've made to a niche...

2008-11-04T16:27:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the contribution you've made to a niche of the musical world for the past couple of years. I've enjoyed getting home form work, logging on and finding great new music to buy. I can't help but think that it's a hiatus and that the industry will be the ultimate loser...See you!

Here's a question. Since you don't have a blogspot...

2008-11-04T12:01:00.000-05:00

Here's a question. Since you don't have a blogspot url I presume you're paying for this anyway. Is it possible you would be less likely to have posts deleted if you used typepad or something?

Blogger just deleted one of my posts today on my b...

2008-11-04T03:30:00.000-05:00

Blogger just deleted one of my posts today on my blog...

Big Blogger is Watching You.

2008-11-02T22:15:00.000-05:00

Big Blogger is Watching You.

All I can say is that as a longtime country music ...

2008-11-01T10:20:00.000-04:00

All I can say is that as a longtime country music fan, your blog is the rare blog I look to every week for awesome writing and intriguing MP3s that I am predominantly not familiar with. If you stop you will ruin my life, so please don't!

Paul, please reconsider your decision of withdrawa...

2008-10-30T15:42:00.000-04:00

Paul, please reconsider your decision of withdrawal. You have a great blog here and have turned on so many people to such a great group of artists. Thank you for this post and thanks to everyone who commented!

A week ago I received my first DMCA take down notification for a post on Beck's new album. Even though the post was from back when the album came out. Damn you Interscope! I may have to refrain from posting about any major label artists from here on out.

Keep it up!

Doctor Mooney

There are a lot of great thoughts here in the comm...

2008-10-28T21:43:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of great thoughts here in the comments. Thanks! Keep 'em coming.

I am going to respond to many of them with a new post later in the week (or next week) addressing the issues in more detail, and with more questions for you. It really is a challenging problem to tackle.

If music blogs are allowed to exist and to remain unregulated, the labels will have very little control and some bloggers will abuse the system. On the other hand, the more formalized and regulated music blogs become (perhaps to gain some official stamp of approval from the industry or the law), the less interesting they will become, I suspect.

I think the answer lies in fleshing out the "fair use" doctrine as applied to music blogs. This probably could be accomplished by some interested party filing a declaratory judgment action in US federal court asking for such a ruling.

Now I've really got something to think about... (We just need to come up with about $100,000 for the costs of litigation.)

A Thought: what we seem to be talking about a lot ...

2008-10-28T20:50:00.000-04:00

A Thought: what we seem to be talking about a lot here is what is best for the music industry, for artists, for music in general.

We seem to be assuming that we are what is best. If so, then perhaps we need to find some labels and artists who are willing to stand up for us, as a way to let the industry understand that message?

How would we start such a movement?

Paul, Hopefully you'll find a way to continue. Aft...

2008-10-28T20:19:00.000-04:00

Paul,
Hopefully you'll find a way to continue. After 2 years I got my first DMCA takedown notice this past week too, along with a deleted post.
The fact that it seems more like a widespread crackdown on bloggers in general and not an isolated incident has me a bit concerned as to what to do next as well.
I'm not ready to throw in the towel just yet, but having to consider it as a potential option is a bit depressing I must admit.
-tom

Same thing happened to me a few days ago! The pos...

2008-10-28T19:39:00.000-04:00

Same thing happened to me a few days ago! The post that was pulled was all about 70s AM Gold music - smooth pop/rock that was mostly popular before I turned 5 years old. At first I thought, "Great, Dave Loggins is going to sue me." And I love this type of music!

I am stunned to see that this is happening to everyone. What a load of crap!

Paul, please reconsider. I have learned so much from your blog. Your "History of Country Rock" was a thing of beauty.

Viva STWOF!

this is the worst news i have heard all week. your...

2008-10-28T18:07:00.000-04:00

this is the worst news i have heard all week. your blog and others like it has been an incredible comfort for me to find like minded individuals in this crazy musical world. hope this thing clears up and you can continue to do great work. Strange...i was just considering starting my own similar blog. really sad...

i enjoy your blog and have purchased many songs/al...

2008-10-28T11:08:00.000-04:00

i enjoy your blog and have purchased many songs/albums because of your posts here. i look at it like you are promoting a product - almost like a free sample - for a huge industry. it makes absolutely no sense to me that they reject this free promotion. the record industry is the only business in the world that does that - and that's why their business is broken.

your explanation of the whole mess was great by the way.

Great post. I'm in a bit of a quandary here, becau...

2008-10-28T07:06:00.000-04:00

Great post. I'm in a bit of a quandary here, because I don't really know what the industry wants. Like you, I get loads of songs from PR folks and the like and like you I'm thinking of not posting tracks anymore. DOn't know how I'll find out about new music, though. Grrrrr.

I don't know what to think about all this...as a r...

2008-10-28T06:56:00.000-04:00

I don't know what to think about all this...
as a rookie in music blogs (mine is just a few weeks old), it would be a hard blow if blogger closed my blog or delete some of my posts.
But like the others I really would like you to reconsider Paul because It has always beeb a great pleasure to listen to some country gems on your blog, especially here in france where country is absent on radio

Paul, I understand your reasoning, but I hope you ...

2008-10-28T01:16:00.000-04:00

Paul, I understand your reasoning, but I hope you will reconsider. You have been doing a great job here, and I would hate to see a few idiots ruin that.

BTW, wouldn't it solve everybody's problems if we all posted streams instead of downloadable files?

There will always be music on the internet. There ...

2008-10-27T23:47:00.000-04:00

There will always be music on the internet. There will always be open indexes of people's files. There will always be companies who will stream music with or without having to log in to hear it. That is rubbish, in my opinion, and I mean you no disrespect sir.

But, this Blogger.com thing is truly becoming a tidal wave I fear and only a small part of that wave. Have any of you noticed the recent lack of videos on YouTube that enable embedding now? That used to be my alternate choice for giving readers a song I could not provide a mp3 for. No longer. Eeek!

And Paul, I'm sad to see you go. You had a great blog here, obviously one that inspired many many people to buy good music. Thanks for that, I hope you find your muse again! xoxoxo

Just for your information : there was a blogging p...

2008-10-27T21:29:00.000-04:00

Just for your information : there was a blogging place called Multiply. For almost one year, I had a musical blog there, sharing songs (and not complete albums), old and new, with people all over the world. May 2007, Multiply delete some posts. Last January, they shut down all the download tags, to every single blog on Multiply. I left. Many of us left. I saw only one Multiply guy on Blogger. Myself, I have a little musical blog for music from 1900 to 1950 on a French company. What I see here at Blogger, and what I read from you people, makes me think a lot of what's happened then at Multiply. Don't worry : one day, there will be no music at all on the Internet.