This Locked-down, Out-of-Tune, American Life
Less than 24 hours after Darrel and I exchanged the list of public radio programs we’re listening to via the podcast (On the Media, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me, and Science Friday), Dave Winer points me to the takedown notice MN’s own PRI sent Jon Udell received for _linking_ to WBEZ-hosted mp3 files of This American Life.
This American Life (and Car Talk) was on our list of “they need to podcast”. Problem is, the infrastructure of capital-P Public Radio prevents them. As I understand, the royalties paid to the storytellers doesn’t cover mp3 distribution. Not to mention the selling-to-affiliates business model.
But someone on the inside, with the power to do so, converted RealAudio streams to mp3s and uploaded the files to audio.wbez.org within a m3u file (mp3 playlist).
Jon Udell saw this and posted a link to both the m3u file and the embedded mp3.
In response, he received the following:
I once knew Sabrina, this black-as-midnight cat. As cats are want to do, she’d rub up against you and purr. Very sweet. Then, when you reached down to pet her – she’d hiss.
4 Comments
I figured this was coming at some point, which is why my post on this when they made the MP3 switch was entirely about how to do it rather than building an RSS feed or anything.
http://www.wynia.org/wordpress/2006/04/18/this-american-life-availble-as-mp3/
Every media producer wants everyone to listen to their material but they don’t want anyone to make it easy to actually do so.
OK, now I know it’s reasonable to complain when companies don’t cater to our every whim, but I sympathize somewhat with TAL on this one.
The legality of deep-linking is murky at best. We techies tend to imagine that there’s no problem with it, since we’re linking, not copying. However, it does undermine the revenue model of every site which shows content alongside advertising, donation pleas, or what have you. Since one of the primary legal conditions for copyright violation is financial harm, there may be some traction.
I have mixed feelings on the issue. I was on the other side, arguing the legality of deep linking, when a group of rather asinine comic artists lashed out at Comictastic with some vitriol that was so far over the line I won’t even dignify it with a link.
I’d say what I said then to TAL: “Look, here’s this new distribution model. Embrace it, don’t hate it!”
But I also feel TAL’s pain. Public radio clings to a pretty thin revenue stream. They are constantly under attack from commercial broadcasting, political extremists, and tight budgets; they only survive because they fight every threat tooth and nail. Maybe Sabrina was abused by her previous owner….
The trick is to help them see that this is not a threat. That will take more than just withering disapproval.
Thanks Paul.
To me it’s an inconsistency – either charge for access via Audible and tether listeners to RealAudio or provide open access to mp3 files.
Knowing the royalties and related issues involved, I’m fine with TAL being behind a pay wall. Just pull the mp3s then.