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Internet Archive's big battle with music publishers ends in settlement

(arstechnica.com)
335 points coloneltcb | 1 comments | 15 Sep 25 22:34 UTC | HN request time: 0.256s | source
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badlibrarian ◴[19 Sep 25 13:57 UTC] No.45301736[source]▶
A search for "Internet Archive rumors" returns a copy of Fleetwood Mac "Rumours" on my first page of results. Playable in browser and downloadable in high-quality lossless format.

The book lawsuit was over current titles (not really archival and preservation), and the record lawsuit wasn't really about the rare 78s, it was about the modern Jimi Hendrix and Paul McCartney records that somehow slipped in. And their refusal to follow the modern law that they themselves celebrated that made what they're trying to do (including downloads) explicitly legal. But that law prohibited fundraising, and they couldn't resist tweeting out links to Frank Sinatra records with a big banner on top asking for money.

In both lawsuits the discovery revealed tech debt and sloppy process at the Archive that made it impossible for them to argue on behalf of the future we all want.

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outside1234 ◴[20 Sep 25 06:41 UTC] No.45311022[source]▶
What modern law(s) are you referring to? (Serious question, interested in learning more)
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1. badlibrarian ◴[20 Sep 25 11:37 UTC] No.45312436[source]▶
Music Modernization Act (2018). A long overdue tiny step into common sense copyright reform.

https://www.copyright.gov/music-modernization/pre1972-soundr...

"The legislation also establishes a process for lawfully engaging in noncommercial uses of Pre-1972 Sound Recordings that are not being commercially exploited. To qualify for this exemption, a user must file a notice of noncommercial use after conducting a good faith, reasonable search, and the rights owner of the sound recording must not object to the use within 90 days."

Basically Internet Archive could've sent a spreadsheet of works to the Copyright Office and anyone claiming commercial use of these old records had to respond within 90 days. In the lawsuit Brewster is quoted saying that it makes pre-1972 works "Library Fair Use."

The law does not allow people to make commercial use of these recordings (take three seconds to consider why). But they could've archived old recordings all day and then made the ones that cleared the list immediately available for unlimited download. And provided excerpts of the others for research purposes.

Instead they managed to get sued for $696 million. For a side project that nobody cared about (40,000+ downloads) that managed to put the whole org (and several participants' personal assets) at risk for two years.

As an aside, 78 RPM records are not particularly fragile. As a consumer product, yes. By preservation standards, no.

"With proper care and storage, this durable resource can last for centuries" https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1300/J116v08n02_04