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Don't you hate when the people who should most "get it" TOTALLY DON'T GET IT!
Neeru@Creative CommonsWe would love to help you offer Creative Commons license to your users — it’s free, and a great way to make clear the rights and restrictions artists would like to offer their fans.
Legal Department@mp3.comNothing replaces the legal protections provided by registering a copyright with the US Copyright Office--most certainly not your “free license.”This email is formal notice for you to cease and desist from further contacting our artists through our web site to solicit for your product/services, which are not sanctioned by us.
Legal Department
Music & Media
Vivendi Universal Net USA, Inc.
Looks like I will have to cease and desist from, in any way, supporting Vivendi Universal Net USA Inc. and its business units. Even attorneys get more humble when they aren't making any money. If enough of us stop playing their game, maybe they will start to "get it."
But Bill, how will they know the reason for not getting your money? They might just attribute it to piracy instead.
If you wanted them to realize this, you could send them a letter explaining why you will no longer buy their products and how much of a financial loss they will receive (granted, I don't do this myself, but I don't see much of another way for companies to realize why they aren't receiving money).
What did you expect sending an email to a generic legal department email address? For something like this you need to call them up and make an appointment to meet with them, or network via the senior executives. They probably get all kinds of goofy email, and they probably spent all of 15 seconds reading it and responding.
Well, the dreamers hit the hard wall of reality.
Academicians like Lessig and those involved in Creative Commons are not going to make headway with businesses that actually make money. It's pretty clear. This is tantamount to emailing the Bush administration and asking them to use your new foreign policy cliff-notes. It's just not going to happen.
Creative Commons does have a legitimate purpose -- they should stick to helping bloggers and other small groups that gain more by sharing their content than by protecting it. Overreaching like this will clearly not help them...
Don't worry about MP3.com --- the company is shutting down, so the whole issue is moot with that company. Big layoffs this month, and assets will probably be sold off within next few weeks to months. Possibly as soon as September. Read the message boards on the MP3.com site for more details.
The majority of folks that were at MP3.com for the first few years are no longer around. This response is made by a totally different crowd.