musicblogocide2k10 : la vie continue

Tuesday Feb 9th around 7PM this blog got removed by Blogger/Google and we received an email informing us about the situation. Masala was one between many blogs to be removed that day. After this piece in The Guardian on Wednesday, and this one on line at The Daily Swarm, a lot of people on the internet expressed their concerns and the #musicblogocide2k10 tag was in the top trends on Twitter. The Guardian article was quoted in many places and we got contacted by people from all around the planet (Brazil, UK, USA, FR, South Africa). Yesterday night around 9PM, we received the following apologizing email from Google's Project Manager Rick Klau and the Masala blog was restored.

Le mardi 9 février vers 19h ce blog a été effacé par Blogger/Google et nous avons reçu un email nous en informant. Masala fût un blog parmi d'autres à être effacé ce jour là. Après cet article dans The Guardian mercredi, et cet article dans The Daily Swarm, beaucoup d'internautes ont exprimé leur inquiétude et leur mécontentement alors que le tag #musicblogocide2k10 se hissa en haut des Trends sur Twitter. L'article du Guardian a été largement relayé et nous avons été contacté par des gens de partout sur la planète (Brésil, UK, USA, FR, Afrique du Sud). Hier soir vers 21h, nous avons reçu l'email d'excuse suivant de la part de Rick Klau, Project Manager à Google et le blog de MASALA a été remis en ligne tel quel.

Benoit -

I wanted to reach out to you directly to apologize and explain what happened this week. But first, I'll share that I have reinstated your blog immediately - it's available in its entirety at its original URL.

What happened this week when we removed your blog was a mistake. As you no doubt know by now, we removed your blog citing repeat offenses of the DMCA. The problem was that due to a processing error, you had not received notice of the DMCA complaints we'd received for your blog - which means you couldn't take corrective action or file a counter-notification.

In addition to restoring your blog, we have fixed the error so that blog shut-downs will only happen when we can verify that prior notifications were sent.

Finally, let me again apologize for the serious error on our part. Your choice to host your blog with Blogger is not one I take lightly, and I want to personally assure you I am doing everything in my power to ensure that we avoid anything like this happening again. My contact info is below, please feel free to reach out if you need anything.

Thank you for using Blogger.

--Rick

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Rick Klau | Business Product Manager, Blogger

- At Masala we believe that music, like culture and art at large, is a mix of influences and is largely derivative. No artist is creating anything from scratch. We also believe that if the copyright laws (DMCA) prevent culture and music from circulating and being reinterpreted and mix, we're moving towards a monolithic culture (to the economic benefit of a few).
- The music we're promoting here is the incarnation of this idea. It's often music made by young people wired to the world through internet or 1st, 2nd or 3rd generation immigrants. People who are inventing themselves through and with the world they're living in, trying to connect their local tradition and history with what they receive from the outside.
- We believe that by posting MP3s on this blog, we're encouraging people to broaden their horizons, be curious and open minded about other peoples music and in the case it's possible, (and it's often not possible), to buy the music, support the artist and the people who made it possible to circulate.
- Don't believe the hype, every download is not a theft or one less sale. Music lovers have a pretty limited bank account. But do support art when you can! Recording music industry is shifting and doesn't make as much money as they used to and on the other hand, the music industry at large is doing ok (publishing, shows, merchandising, sponsorship etc.).


- A Masala, nous croyons que la musique, comme la culture et l'art au sens large, est un mélange d'influences et utilise toujours des idées et des éléments pré-existants. Aucun artiste ne crée ex-nihilo. Nous pensons également que si les lois sur les droits d'auteur (DMCA) empêche la culture et la musique de circuler et d'être réinterprété librement, nous nous dirigerons vers une culture monolithique (au bénéfice économique de quelques-uns).
- La musique dont nous faisons la promotion sur ce blog est l'incarnation de cette idée. Cette musique est généralement composée par des jeunes connectés au monde à l'aide de l'internet ou issue de l'imigration de 1ere, 2e ou 3e génération. Ces gens de partout s'inventent quotidiennement au travers du monde dans lequel ils vivent et essayent de créer du sens entre leurs traditions, cultures et histoires locales et les influences extérieurs.
- Nous pensons que par poster un MP3 sur ce blog, nous encourageons les gens à élargir leurs horizons, être curieux et ouvert d'esprit par rapport à la musique des Autres et, lorsque c'est possible (et ce n'est souvent pas possible), d'acheter la musique, de soutenir les artistes et les gens qui ont rendu possible la circulation de la musique.
- Don't believe the hype, chaque téléchargement n'est pas un vol ou une vente de moins. Les amateurs de musique ont un compte en banque limité. Mais soutenez l'art autant que vous le pouvez! L"Industrie du disque change et ne fait pas autant d'argent qu'auparavant et d'un autre coté, l'Industrie de la Musique au sens large se porte correctement (éditions, spectacles, merchandising, sponsorship etc.)


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