Cease and desist update: A small victory

We appear to have reached an ending (a happy one, at that) on this matter.

After I wrote the IFPI last week, stating (among other things) that Travis singer Fran Healy, as one of the four copyright holders, gave me his blessing to post the song, J. Smith, I received this letter today via e-mail.

Dear Kevin,

IFPI was contacted by a member of the label who confirmed you were given permission to post the file on your site.

We were unaware of this agreement but now that it has been notified to us please feel free to upload the file.

Due to the volume of infringing content we find online there will be instances where legitimate files are picked up as infringing. We hope this matter shows that once we have the correct information we do not want to stop the promotion of music online.

Regards,
Notices Department

There you have it. Quite a backhanded stab at an apology, eh?

Whatever, I feel fairly vindicated in this matter and I can’t thank Travis and singer Fran Healy enough for answering my MySpace message and giving me his permission to post this song. Please visit the band’s Web site or MySpace and show some love. I already considered myself a huge Travis fan; this situation only reinforced my faith in their music/message.

Lastly, take 30 seconds to download this track, not only for the satisfaction of this small victory but also because it’s another fine addition to the Travis catalog.

Thanks.

13 thoughts on “Cease and desist update: A small victory”

  1. Way to not take any guff from those swine. God forbid you posted an uncleared Katy Perry track, it would’ve been off with your head.

  2. that was pretty disgusting. i’ve been reading your blog for a couple months now; i dig it, although i never felt compelled to comment until now. what kind of bullshit was that letter?

    “We hope this matter shows that once we have the correct information we do not want to stop the promotion of music online. We fully promote artistic expression. As long as we can profit from it.”

    Damn the man. Don’t let the man get you down.

  3. Fran’s the man! I reckon he’s right, the way forward is for music on the net to become like radio, providers pay artists to play the tunes we download for free and maybe see an ad or two before we do to cover those costs. I reckon he’s wrong re the net replacing TV by 2040, it’ll happen much sooner than that.

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  5. Hi Kevin

    Saw this a bit late, I guess. But nice to read that IFPI admits to making mistakes. Is there any chance you can post some more details of the letter? You should of course delete anything you think is too personal, but it would be nice to be able to point to IFPI admitting mistakes, and that will have more weight with some more info from the mail.

    As you may know, France has new regulation that allows the right-holders to shut down an individuals internet connection, if they have warned him/her thrice. There are absolutely no need for evidence. In Denmark our ministry og culture is thinking in the same lines.

    Showing that IFPI is fallible is therefore very important.

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