Blogmusik.net is a site that lets users search for songs and play them (streaming) immediately via a Flash player that looks like an iPod. Use does not require registration. However, if you create an account you can also save songs and create playlists. The library is quite extensive - I was listening to Eminem, R.E.M., Metallica and Frank Sinatra earlier this evening and it seemed to have just about everything I was searching for.
I have the feeling, based on the fact that there is absolutely no information about any licensing deal or even basic company information, that this is an unauthorized use of copyrighted material. I suspect that the library is simply a very large music collection sitting on a server with a nice looking Flash UI tacked on. See the comments below for additional information. It certainly is fun, but I can’t imagine it will be making the RIAA and its worldwide counterparts very happy. Enjoy it while it lasts.
The service has an associated blog here, and Myspace page here. Thank you Orli for emailing us about this.
Quite an interesting find.
Fortunately RIAA cannot block this google query:
-inurl:(htm|html|php) intitle:”index of” +”last modified” +”parent directory” +description +size +(wma|mp3) +”artist name”
It looks like they are setting it up so you can blog songs.
I just e-mailed myself a song with the “Share this song” link.
We will see how this works.
Its Blogmusik.net not blogmusic
It seems like a doorway portal which queries search engines for mp3s, and delivers that through a flash interface. If you actually monitor your status bar, the actual file is being streamed from another server, which is different each time. BlogMusik isn’t actually hosting any illegal content - just making it more readily available.
This appears to be a skin around http://www.radioblogclub.com/ and uses it’s software hosted at dubwis.free.fr ?
Yes Nick, quite likely so. This is pretty much a rip-off site with a flash interface designed to bring in the $$$.
Yes, apparantly it pulls its info from radioblogclub.com which is another site that might attrack attention from the French RIAA counterpart. Their Flash-interface doesn’t really hide the actual MP3-files used by both Blogmusic and Radioblogclub and when you download those it shows that they are only 32 or 64 Kb encoded so hardly something anyone would want to download to save and keep.
Guys, Ouriel has been using Radio.Blog.CLub over at Techcruch.for quite a while and is sure to give us the inside view very soon
In case you can’t find it yourself: http://amiriskandar.name/downl.....ioBlog.htm
(disclaimer: I live in a country were providing this info *and* downloading the audio files is legal, if it isn’t for Techcrunch then please feel free to remove my reply here!)
That’s an interesting selection of music, M.A.
Eminem and REM?
Yes, indeed: http://www.radioblogclub.com/ … I have a radioblog on my website. it’s a really easy way to share music (make other people listen music you like by having a “widget” streaming music file diretly on your page) and i could find my file on blogmusik.net…
Blogmusik.net is actually reading the file i hosted on a free http://ftp. It’s not mp3 because radioblog needs you to transform the format…
@immorak
you can also blog a track with radioblog and its better:
http://blog.radioblogclub.com/.....this-track
but i like the address for one song we can get easily with blogmusik
@Michael Arrington
Radioblog has been around for a long time. do you really think blogmusik will be pulled off anytime soon? will radioblog be pulled off as a consequence?
Another great site is Streampad (http://www.streampad.com) Not only can you find great music, but you can add podcasts, create podcasts, stream concerts, embed a player in your own blog and soon stream your library from home.
Hype Machine is my favorite: http://hype.non-standard.net/
What is the advantage of displaying an ipod as a user interface on a web page? User familiarity? The reason why I am confused is because a web page is, obviously, not a tangible median and I don’t understand why a designer would want to imitate one when, rather, he/she could take advantage of the median it actually is.
Fred> Bien vu, as we say watch out review on Techcrunch.fr on it soon
Carl: Its probably one of the reasons why it got posted here. oooh.. ipod like… i like.
There are ton of sites like this for Indian (Hindi) Music on the web.
I am frankly surpirsed to hear that there aren’t any sites like this until now for Western Music. I am sure there are others..
The countdown starts now.. lets take some estimates of how long until
1. the site is overloaded
2. it’s takend down.
Let the guessing start.
Hey.
I work for a moderately successful online music magazine.
We’ve been hosting unauthorized music for ages, never been bugged by the RIAA.
Great site. Thanks for the recommendation.
This string is a perfect example of why comments are so important to this blog. Lots of corrections and new information. It reads like a story.
Why are you promoting it if you know it is illegal? Do you hate America?
What makes the streaming of music ok with the RIAA?
Bolt . com has been around for a while and it allows people to upload and play music online. Is that legal.
Is allowing stream-access to a set of crawled mp3 links legal? What is the acceptable way to handle such a service as blogmusik ?
Uh oh #23…I spoke too soon.
Different countries, different laws.
Blogmusik is a french site (see DNS registration), from the company that makes lovelee.com, which seems to have been in business since 2005.
AFAIK: Streaming is considered a radio service in France. Pay the SACEM (agency that collects royaltees) a fixed fee, and you’re ok. On-demand streaming is also legal: it’s like asking the DJ to play a tune, except there’s no DJ.
This is not legal advice because I am not a lawyer, etc…
the site is fun (especially the vast library of 70s and 80s songs) and the UI is nice. but of course a real ipod is better
sengan: reason why i asked was because i just started my new hobbie site Livemoods dot com and im getting very sceptical about completing it. At some point id make it a member site where users upload their own content. but im so unsure.
The idea and colection of songs is really cool . I like it and hope it lasts. I wonder if they have any plans on tagging the songs, it would be intresting .
lone ranger, I can’t help you… ask a lawyer!
My only point was that Michael may be wrong when he says blogmusik will be pulled from the internet. I have no idea whether they’re paying their dues, but even if they are, AFAIK they don’t have to sign agreements with each music provider in France.
This raises the question: is it legal to use it from the US. I have no idea… One would think so, if it’s legal to listen to French radio over here (eg: Radio France International on shortwave). If it isn’t, one would assume they would use IP geo-location (France 2 TV does that sometimes) to prevent one from using it.
thanks kalgul, i just added a few just to test the waters. i found this article while surfing http://all-streaming-media.com.....oading.htm
Check out Gruuve http://www.gruuve.com. You can create playlists, post to myspace, get discography info and more.
This is actually really cool, considering ALL of the online radio stations sites are blocked at my job. Good stuff, excellent idea, and one interesting design
This is an abomination. It is lame, too. And what about the music you cited, “Eminem, R.E.M., Mettalica (mispelled, too) and Frank Sinatra” ? The lamest thing ever. ’nuff said.
I run a site with a similar concept (basically just links to mp3s on other sites, no streaming… yet) and I don’t think what blogmusik is doing is illegal. The DMCA protects search engines and directories that link to third party content. Copyright holders can ask to have the links removed, but at the end of the day, the person responsible for the copyright infringement is the original person hosting the mp3 files. At least that is my take on it.
Note that there are a SLEW of high profile sites that do this already, including webjay.com (recently purchased by Yahoo) and sideload.com (one of Michael Robertson’s many properties).
Very mainstream stuff - failed the Al Stewart test, never mind the Robyn Hitchcock test (levels of obscurity of cult artists). Bring back my long tail !
It would be so awesome if I was cool like you jsaltz.
This site is totally not legal in America, though it is possibly legal in France. The thing is, under the new WIPA regulations, IP enforcement is regional-global. That is, regional rules apply except for international media (ie, media coming from regions other than the current locale).
So…it’s not legal to have the American music there, but anything released from Euro labels is okay AS LONG AS this company pays the appropriate licensing fees as required by whatever country they’re in.
It may be illegal but it is fun!
Great fun, thanks for the link and the story!
Eoin
yeah, initially it looks like a great find, but there are some obvious flaws..for one, the sound quality for most of the tracks suck, the same songs are offered multiple times(Queen “Bohemian Rhapsody”) and to give you an idea of the lame selections offered, when I explored Aerosmith, all I got was their post early 80’s crap, which isn’t Aerosmith, but a corporate shill that paid off the original crew leaving us stuck with nothing but muzak for the past 20 years…….
I’ll pass on this site
Ya.. its just another clone of radioblogclub except crappier. I’d like to see radioblogclub popup in the media from attention to this one if it gets shut down. RBC is breaking just as many laws I’m sure of it.
how about http://www.tunefeed.com/ ? (sponsor of techcrunch)
If I understand well, it’s the same kind of stuff and they say it’s “100% Legal and totally Free”
why not mention it?
why not explain me the difference?
philou, Tunefeed is different in the following ways:
1. Tunefeed.com hosts the MP3 files, and streams them directly to listeners.
2. Tunefeed.com keeps logs of songs that are streamed.
3. Tunefeed.com remits royalties to artists for every song that is played.
4. Tunefeed allows you to upload and share your own music.
I am not sure of the legality of BlogMusik [I'd class it as suspect].
If the MP3 files are hosted on many different servers and the server owners do not own the rights for the music, then the copyright owners would need to issue take down notices under the DMCA for each and every infringing file; a time consuming task…
Of course they could just rely on the statutory damages for each infringement of $150,000 or what ever it is now…
This needs a recommendation engine. Radio Blog Club has a primitive one.
Know any with embeddable players?
I love these “feelings” that everyone is having as to the legality of the site. These “feelings” / “vibes” are like Mabo, right?
It kind of reminds me of the time when everyone was up in arms about Webjay.org before it sold to Yahoo. Surely this is exactly the same, only it centers the experience around a flash player which can stream the remotely hosted content?
Jonathan (from faces.com, right?),
thanks for your great answer!
Let’s not talk about blogmusik but RadioBlogclub.com. For me, Tunefeed.com is really inspired from it.
Thanks for spotting the differencessss. I do remember reading about the royalties now. It is a BIG difference indeed! Tunefeed has a business model like M. A. says…
However, Radioblog also “allows you to share your own music”. ok, it’s more difficult to set up and the develpment of the product is slow (still waiting for radioblog 3.0).
Still didn’t switch to tunefeed… well, i just realise that you opened it. i do remember subscribing my email to the website to know when it will open but still didn’t receive the email.
This site is no different from http://www.sideload.com - a Michael Robertson production. Having a looking around the site - its clear that are linking to music rather than storing it themselves - is this any different to what google or yahoo or microsoft do? In fact any search engine for that matter? Its interesting because in Australia - there was a relatively recent case that involve that exact matter and music - it was decided that it WAS indeed illegal. You can read about this here: http://www.zdnet.com.au/news/c.....379,00.htm
According to the FAQ on sideload they get around this problem because no common law (that is case law) in the US has made a decision about this yet.
Sideload, an american company - which would be illegal in Australia - gets around the problem (according to their faq) by:
Sideload.com does not store any music, but rather links to files publicly available other places on the net. Sideload.com respects the intellectual property of others, and we ask our users to do the same. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 (the “DMCA”) provides recourse for copyright owners who believe that material appearing on the Internet infringes their rights under U.S. copyright law. If you believe in good faith that materials listed on Sideload.com infringe your copyright you (or your agent) may send us a notice requesting that the material be removed, or access to it blocked. The notice must include the following information: (a) a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed; (b) identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or if multiple copyrighted works located on the Site are covered by a single notification, a representative list of such works); (c) identification of the material that is claimed to be infringing or the subject of infringing activity, and information reasonably sufficient to allow Sideload.com to locate the material on the Site; (d) the name, address, telephone number and email address (if available) of the complaining party; (e) a statement that the complaining party has a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent or the law; and (f) a statement that the information in the notification is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that the complaining party is authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed. If you believe in good faith that a notice of copyright infringement has been wrongly filed by Sideload.com against you, the DMCA permits you to send Sideload.com a counter-notice. Notices and counter-notices must meet the then-current statutory requirements imposed by the DMCA; see http://www.loc.gov/copyright/ for details. Notices and counter-notices with respect to the Site should be sent to MP3tunes, LLC, 9333 Genesee Ave, Suite 100, San Diego, CA 92121, Attn: Emily Richards. We suggest that you consult your legal advisor before filing a notice or counter-notice. Also, be aware that there can be penalties for false claims under the DMCA.
Frederick
Jonathan,
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006.....ent-163282
so you’ve tried radioblog? how is it?
Guys, all very nice and cool, and interesting, but as far as I can tell none of the music that these apps / widgets run with has been licensed (i.e. not the use of the master, or composition, nor public performance), so any user (and their enabler) is potentially liable for infringement. IMHO. On the other hand, it’s pretty lame that the content companies and record labels don’t make this available themselves yet - what better syndication could they hope for. Well, hopefully this problem will be solved with my new co http://www.sonific.com — all of music is licensed, and we are building a huge, fully legal catalog that all our users can use for free - take a look.
This kind of flash app has the big leak to be very easy to crack…
As an exemple purpose I’ve poster a modified swf here (http://www.webinterdit.com/ipodleecherv2.swf).
Simply download it to your desktop, open it with firefox, left-clic on the app, open “parameters”, go to the computer tab, select “advanced”, then you’ll be redirect to adobe website, there select “global security parameters” and add your desktop (or whatever folder) to the list.
Reload the app in firefox, et voilà !
Simply select a song and clic on the blue button (telecharger) to download it…
If the file comes with a rbs extension, simply change it to mp3.
This interesting experiment is pointing on how vicious the programmer is.
In fact, it’s simply a hack of radio blog club, you’ll see it in download urls.
And I’m almost sure that Astro, the creator of RBC is not aware of the hack.