Google strong-arms indie musicians into accepting brutal, crowdfunding-killing deal for streaming service

A strong but honest headline about Googe’s new bullshit:

  • Participation in the new service requires that your entire catalog be available for streaming, at high resolution.

  • Participation requires that you not release your music elsewhere earlier, e.g., no early releases for fans or backers.

  • You no longer get a choice of whether to do nothing, block a video, or run ads. Ads are mandatory.

  • Five year contract.

  • If you don’t participate in the new service, then the option to obtain Content-ID ad revenue from the free version of Youtube no longer exists.

  • If you had previously been getting Content-ID ad revenue and choose not to participate in the new service, your channel will be deleted and all videos using your music will be blocked.

These are all non-negotiable and mandatory, btw.

Marco Arment on Google Reader Shutting Down July 1st

Marco sez:

Now, we’ll be forced to fill the hole that Reader will leave behind, and there’s no immediately obvious alternative. We’re finally likely to see substantial innovation and competition in RSS desktop apps and sync platforms for the first time in almost a decade.

It may suck in the interim before great alternatives mature and become widely supported, but in the long run, trust me: this is excellent news.

I think he’s right. But it’s still going to be a major pain in the ass.

Andy Baio’s First Article for Wired Epicenter

The beginning of a weekly must-read. Andy is good people, a good writer, and sharp as a tack:

On Wednesday, Google retired a longer-standing “plus”: the + operator, a standard bit of syntax used to force words and phrases to appear in search results. The operator was part of Google since its launch in 1997 and built into every search engine since.

The article is about how to get the + operator back.

Fighting The Wrong Fight

Excellent piece by Elia Freedman:

We have been distracted by ridiculous arguments and fabricated “wars” for too long. We have been distracted by thinking that Google is Microsoft and Apple is Apple in a doomed fight already fought 20 years ago.

But that is not the fight we should be caring about at all. The fight we should be talking about, but aren’t, is the fight between mobile device makers and the carriers. This is the only real fight that matters.

Google, Verizon, Net Neutrality, and iTunes Cloud

Google: Makes money by selling ads. Has a smartphone OS that helps them sell ads on search results, apps, etc. Upset with Apple’s foray into advertising. Starting to feel the pinch of a possible iPhone for Verizon, their most visible Android partner.

Verizon: Makes money by selling bits. Sells dozens of phones with dozens of different operating systems from dozens of different manufacturers. Has sunk some money into Droid, but isn’t married to the platform. Will go with whichever benefits their bottom line most.

Apple: Makes money selling software, and some bits. Just got into the ad space with iAds. Their iPhone sells its own bits and sells its own ads. Doesn’t like making concessions to wireless carriers, and will call them out in public. If they launch a version of their iPhone for Verizon, Verizon isn’t likely to get a cut of their App, Music, Video, or Ad market. Those are all bits that Verizon wants to charge extra for.

iTunes Cloud: Live streaming of a user’s purchased iTunes tracks to any supported device. Only likely supported phone platform? iOS, the iPhone’s operating system. No phone carrier is going to get a cut of tracks purchased for this service.

Net Neutrality: Means that carriers aren’t allowed to slow down certain kinds of internet traffic to help their business goals. Means that iTunes Cloud can stream as many tracks as the user is willing to buy bandwidth for. Means Verizon doesn’t get a cut aside from their 3G bandwidth spectrum pricing, which is getting cheaper all the time despite their (recent) complaining about capacity problems.

Dots: Partially connected.

Why Google Became A Carrier-Humping, Net Neutrality Surrender Monkey

Ryan Singel for Wired:

Compare Monday’s statement to this one, from a post on Google’s official blog in 2007: “The nation’s spectrum airwaves are not the birthright of any one company. They are a unique and valuable public resource that belong to all Americans. The FCC’s auction rules are designed to allow U.S. consumers — for the first time — to use their handsets with any network they desire, and and use the lawful software applications of their choice.”

Compare, indeed. Yes, it’s true that people and corporations change their minds, and they’re welcome to. But Google has apparently changed its mind for one reason: They stand to make more money with their pals at Verizon. They just won’t come out and say it.

Google and Verizon Say No To Wireless Net Neutrality

Read the full policy on Google’s policy blog.

Here’s how it reads to me: The “wireline” (read: everything but cell networks) internet, where it helps Google’s business that providers are not allowed to make one site or service load faster than another (Say, Bing gets priority over Google Search) net neutrality is sacrosanct. The “wireless” (cell) internet, with Verizon, where it helps Google’s business if traffic to their sites and services load faster, net neutrality isn’t a big deal, and should be abandoned. “For now.”

This is the PATRIOT Act of the wireless internet. If net neutrality for wireless is abandoned now, we will pretty much never get it.