Saturday, February 13, 2010

Rockin' In The "FREE WORLD"?


I Rock Cleveland is shut down by Google's Blogger service

By John Soeder, The Plain Dealer 
February 10, 2010, 5:20PM


UPDATED 7 P.M. FEB. 10 WITH BLOGGER RESPONSE AND LINK

I Rock Cleveland, a popular music blog run by Bill Lipold of Parma, has been shut down by Google's Blogger division. 

Lipold received an e-mail Tuesday from Blogger, notifying him that I Rock Cleveland was removed for violating Blogger's terms of service. 

"It's difficult to get across . . . that there's a difference between someone working with the blessings of the artists and the [record] labels and someone who leaks Bruce Springsteen's entire discography," Lipold, 35, told The Plain Dealer on Wednesday. 

"They don't see the distinction between someone who's adding value and someone who's facilitating piracy," he said. "That goes to the root of this whole mess." 

I Rock Cleveland showcased music not only by local artists, but national and international acts, too. 

In recent months, Blogger notified Lipold of several complaints from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, a recording-industry trade group, alleging that some MP3 files on I Rock Cleveland infringed on copyright. 

Lipold said he had permission from the artists, publicists or record companies involved to share the music files in question, including songs by the indie bands Nadja and Spindrift. 

On Wednesday, Lipold e-mailed documentation of the blessings he had obtained to Blogger, which is owned by Mountain View, Calif.-based Google. The free service allows users to create and maintain their own blogs. 

Blogger also pulled the plug on several other MP3 blogs this week. 

In an item posted today on its own blog under the heading “A quick note about music blog removals,” Blogger said it does not publicly discuss individual users or accounts.

The entry also stated: “When we receive multiple DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act] complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog.”

I Rock Cleveland averaged 1,500 unique visitors daily, according to Lipold, who is a database programmer. He started his blog in 2006. 

"I don't make money on it -- I've never run advertising," Lipold said. 

"I do it because of the good feedback I get from the people who read it. I get compliments all the time. People say I'm making a difference by keeping them up-to-date about the Cleveland music scene." 

Lipold plans to relaunch I Rock Cleveland on a new server this weekend.


New links for this and several other zapped blogs on the Friends That Rock listing.

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