Normally this is something I would post on my music blog, over at Burgo’s Music Blog. Unfortunately, this issue has been brought to my attention in the midst of a blog move from one host to the other… so, at this stage (as you can see) Burgo’s Blog is still in “Maintenance Mode” (god help me, I hope I don’t lose the whole blog… having never shifted a Wordpress blog from one host to the other).
Anyway, seeing as I don’t have access to Burgo’s Blog at the moment, I thought I would use another avenue in this, my personal blog.
First thing’s first… please read this.
If, however, you have the attention of a blue-assed bottle fly, to put it in the Cliff Notes version, the situation in Boy Howdie’s own words is this:
1. Label rep contacts me about awesome new covers.
2. I write to label rep thanking her and asking for permission to share those covers.
3. Label rep excitedly grants permission to share those covers in a particular way.
4. I post those covers in exactly the way specified by the label rep.
5. In the same post, I include two other covers which are all over the blogs, and available for FREE on the MySpace page of the artist, who owns her OWN label.
6. The label rep writes to thank me for the nice review.
7. Blogger takes down the post.
This isn’t the first time Blogger has done this to Boy, and it’s clearly starting to take its toll in his willingness to continue blogging.
Let me make this clear… if the Cover Lay Down blog was to cease posting, that would be a sad day for the music blogosphere. It’s one of the most entertaining blogs out there, full of original thoughts in an all too often “rinse and repeat” music blog world.
However, as much as I respect Boy and the Cover Lay Down blog, the issue is far bigger than simply his case. Blogger simply taking down music posts without consulting anyone seems to be a case of far too many itchy trigger fingers, and there seems to be no avenue for the affected bloggers to offer recourse.
(Also, for more on this, please see my past post “The DMCA, and other random tidbits“)
It’s an issue that, as music bloggers, we need to pay attention to, lest we wake up one morning and find it the 300lb gorilla in the corner.
Anyway… if you can help in any way, then please visit the Cover Lay Down blog to offer your support. Boy, if you read this, I’m in the midst of moving my Wordpress blog from one host to the other, so I might be able to offer some guidance in the future based on how this move goes. Of course, if you don’t see Burgo’s Blog as live again in a few days, then you might want to ignore that offer for help 