Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Facebook Dims Spotlight on Free-Range MP3s

Ah, the perils of being a "platform"...

VentureBeat » Facebook kills Audio for copyright violations

Facebook completely removed the Audio music-sharing application from its platform last night, saying it violated music copyrights.

Audio was developed by a third-party using Facebook’s platform for developers, and Facebook says Audio violates its newly updated developer terms of service.

Audio allowed users to upload audio files in the mp3 format, share them with each other and listen to them within Facebook. By the end of last week, it had nearly 750,000 users.


It seems like the hounds and lawyers are injecting some conservatism over at Facebook. Once you are a "platform" it is much harder to take a hands off approach to potential copyright infringement that is taking place on it. Check out my post from about 6 weeks ago called "Facebook Shining the Spotlight on Free-Range MP3s".

1 comment:

J Chris A said...

It's not surprising that Facebook would feel the need to remove a free-range mp3 application. The move highlights the FUD that the major labels have so successfully perpetrated.

However, there are many, many artists, bands, and labels that thrilled to participate in the Lightnet. Even the majors seem to appreciate free-range mp3s when they're done on their terms.

A definitive list of tracks or artists that don't want to participate in the Lightnet would be very handy. As it is now, the interests of a monied minority are ruining the game for everyone else who wants to play. Of course, I think the big labels know this and couldn't be more pleased.