Policy

Sigh. It’s a litigious world. So here’s why we do what we do, and how we do it.

It is currently impossible to share a music listening experience on a blog in any strictly legal, usable or meaningful way. There were some services, most notably Sonific, which attempted to get precisely such a service going, with embeddable widgets and other intelligent and secure ways of giving visitor to your website a chance to appreciate the music you write about. All of them have now shut shop due to failed negotiations with licensing corporations. So, until the industry landscape progresses, we have no choice but to bend the rules a bit.

Here’s how it works:

1. we aren’t “sharing” music: we’re talking about music we love and we want to give people a chance to appreciate it
2. we’re not “offering downloads”; listenable music will be removed from the site on a rolling basis
3. we want people to support artists: we will always link to at least one online store containing the album/song/artist we blog about
4. whenever possible, we will always link to at least one streaming service that has that album etc. when the music for that post is removed, readers will have a chance to sample it elsewhere
5. we don’t believe in 30-second samples: music is diverse, and most of it can’t be understood, much less appreciated or evaluated in 30 seconds. we will post anything from short samples to whole songs, as appropriate for that piece.

we’re interested in music and the meaning it has in our lives, not litigation or our “legal” rights. if you are a label and want us to remove music, let us know and we will do so. if you’re an artist and you are offended by what we’re doing, we’ll be happy to erase you from our history, with a little note to the effect (we’ll be saddened at your attitude, but we’ll still love your work). if you think we’re stealing something, then, well, we don’t really have anything to say to you, except goodbye, and look for your morality elsewhere.

and if you’re like us and care more about music than about institutions, welcome! it’s too important a thing to leave to others. we hope you enjoy your stay.