Hear Brandy Clark’s Wistful ‘Love Can Go to Hell’

Acclaimed singer-songwriter Brandy Clark continues to unveil songs from her forthcoming sophomore album Big Day in a Small Town, due out June 10th.

Following on the heels of the cheeky “Girl Next Door” is Clark’s latest, a wistful break-up treatise called “Love Can Go To Hell.” Clark tells Rolling Stone Country that it…

Weekend Rock Question: What Is the Best ‘American Idol’ Performance?

After 15 seasons, American Idol comes to an end next week. The series has been a rare combination of having interesting personalities carry over from each season — the judges, host Ryan Seacrest — and finding genuine talent and creating actual stars from the competition series.

Now we have a question…

Watch Keith Urban’s Electric ‘Wasted Time’ Performance on ‘Idol’

Since January 2013, Keith Urban has been sitting across the judges’ table from dozens of hopeful singers on American Idol, now in its 16th and final season. As the show winds down to next week’s three-night finale, which will see performances from both the first and last Idol champs (Kelly…

Thousands of Artists Demand Changes to DMCA Exploitation

A Letter Regarding the DMCA

400 artists, songwriters, managers and music organizations are now demanding DMCA reforms, perhaps the start of a serious groundswell.

Hundreds of music industry figures have joined forces to collectively petition to the U.S. Copyright Office for reforms to the current Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA.  The Act, signed into law in 1998, is now viewed as a loophole for everyone from Google to Grooveshark to drive billions in piracy revenues.

Artists like Katy Perry and Christina Aguilera are among those that have been sending comments to the U.S. Copyright Office with urgent demands for changes.  The activists claim that the current policy favors ‘technology companies and rogue pirate sites,’ at the extreme expense of artists.

The early mob of protesters also includes 18 major music organizations, a group that collaborated on a 100-page brief  outlining the issues that exist within the current legal framework of the DMCA.

”The DMCA was supposed to provide balance between service providers and content owners, but instead it provides harmful ‘safe havens’ under which many platforms either pay nothing or pay less than market value for music”.

In total, three letters have been circulated: one from the music organizations and managers, one from artists and songwriters, and one from creators.  All three come to the conclusion and agreement that the DMCA needs to be reformed to protect intellectual property.

The DMCA was enacted in 1998, and was forged during the formative years of the internet.  In the current atmosphere, it simply isn’t doing enough to prevent piracy, and often encourages it.  Just moments after infringing content is taken down from a place like Google results, the exact same content is commonly re-uploaded.  That forces content owners to constantly issue takedowns, often in a fruitless battle for control.

Beyond this artist group, several others have spoken out via the US government’s public consultation regarding DMCA safe harbor provisions.

Online, Fight For The Future and a popular YouTube channel, ChannelAwesome, have started a campaign against DMCA abuse.  The channels have already generated over 210,000 views on YouTube, 4,000 YouTube video comments, and 50,000 comments to the Copyright Office via TakedownAbuse.org.

This public consultation will draw to a close at end of day today.

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