Level 99

Episode 87 - Cannabis Smoking Dolphin & Training in the Village for a Massive Man

They were on facebook before too, I think they have two fan pages. One is legalsounds as one word, the other is Legal Sounds as two words.

Cake GET!!!

Okay, I just want to back up a second and voice an opinion. I'm not advocating invasion of personal privacy, first amendment rights, violation of personal property, and all that stuff. I'd just like to point out that, personally, I haven't purchased or listened to a new album from a commercial artist in over two years that was in any way shape or form involved with a major record label (I haven't watched more than maybe three or four major motion pictures in the theatre in that time as well, and anything else I've seen was either watched over Netflix or bought on the cheap on bluray or DVD, however I'm making this case solely based on musician's situations). With the advent of things like Soundcloud, Bandcamp, and other services that offer free, pay-what-you-want, and reasonably-priced static costs for albums and songs that go 85-90% directly to the artist, what need is there to bitch and moan about the labels that charge too much money and then file lawsuits against its own listeners? There seems to me to be a wealth of resources for free and cheapasfree music of all types now on the internet, all of which the RIAA would have no grounds to launch suits over even if there were infringments. Instead of going after the corporations that keep pressuring governments internationally to enact this kind of policy, go and send a message to the musicians themselves that you will no longer listen to or purchase the music of people whom are represented by the RIAA. Here's a quick list, mostly from personal experience, on how to get massive amounts of music legally for life, and a lot of it for free: 1) torrent free music. By this I mean you can torrent albums that artists have released for free and given their blessing to be shared through bittorrent due to its cost-saving bandwidth reduction benefits. There are tons of albums that are in this category, you just have to go and find them (and also make sure that yes, they are free and consented to be shared via bittorrent. A good movie example of this is Big Buck Bunny.) 2) purchase or freely download music from websites like Bandcamp and Soundcloud. While you may need to research and make sure that it isn't one of the major labels that posted it and is collecting there on behalf of said artist, this is one of the best ways to support a musician while getting drm-free music that you can redownload in a multitude of formats forever. Easier than trying to keep a disc from breaking, and more versatile since you can download seemingly with no limit once you purchase. Even better, nearly every artist on these sites has either the full album or at least a few full-song demos that you can play right there in your browser. Great way to listen to an album completely and then decide if you want to support the people who made it. 3) purchase music directly from the artist. A little bit more homegrown but there are still people who do this, no harm in asking if a musician who's material you want can sell/give it to you with no middleman. 4) download from free music sites like OC ReMix. As long as fair use is in good standing, and in my personal opinion there's no amount of money in the world that would convince the supreme court that a vast personal reinterpretation available for free of a copyrighted song violates fair use, sites like OC ReMix will be around and thriving. 5) go to concerts for artists you want to support but are on major labels. The cost of touring is usually fronted by the band itself, and even if ticket sales are partially garnished by a label or representation agency, the merchandise being sold at shows besides discs generally have the majority of their profit going towards the band itself. I absolutely disagree with forcing ISPs to invade their user's privacy and police their internets, but in all seriousness, what can the objectors do as a group? It is unlikely that there would be enough money pooled from a fundraiser or drive to invest in lobbyists that can effectively counter the kind of influence big media has in DC right now. Petitions and protests can only do so much. Want to hit the people who are responsible for this kind of crap where it hurts and eventually remove their power and ability to do this? Two ways: 1) Do not listen to, support, purchase, or even pirate material from artists that have any bit of money going to the RIAA. The RIAA pays for their lawyers and lobbyists with the profits of their media sales, along with some of the money made by suing the pants off of people (but this counts as a very minor amount compared to the money they make in sales). 2) Tell all the musicians who you listen to that you will not be giving them a dime until they allow you to purchase material from them in a manner that does not contribute to the RIAA. optional: if you really really can't not purchase or listen to artists that are under the umbrella of the RIAA-represented labels, buy your music second-hand in a physical format from friends or used music stores, heck even on ebay as long as the RIAA doesn't get a cut. However this has limited viability because if the RIAA sees there are still sales and listeners but they're getting things all second-hand now, you can bet your ass they're going after those places that do it with more fervor as their money dwindles. I really don't expect this to be heeded in any way that will make a difference, I'm just pointing out that this can likely be effectively stopped at the source by a) being upstanding citizens and not listening to the artists that help, advertantly or inadvetantly, contribute to the people that cause these continuous problems, and getting all your music somewhere that doesn't put a thing in the pockets of the RIAA. The landscape of the industry is changing now more than it has in the last 50 years. Just like there is a current divide between small game publishers and creators (the "indie" scene, as some call it) and the big game publishers, so to is there a divide between DIY, indie, self-publishing musicians and the gargantuan labels that represent relics of an age where they refuse to evolve as the rest of the world does. They can't punish you for not downloading or listening to an album, they also can't punish you for selling an album and not giving them a cut. So clean up your methods of buying and selling, and things rapidly improve for your and everyone else. If you're a musician yourself and are trying to sell your music without contributing to the problem, see again alternate methods that are up-and-coming like bandcamp (god, this is starting to sound like one big-ass bandcamp suckoff, but really, they're doing it the way it should be done in the digital age). Trust in your fans to support you, and with social media working the way it does its so much easier to circumvent the need to have things being pushed by people with big mouths. tl;dr - stop suppporting artists who contribute any funds to RIAA (MPAA as well if we're talking movies), and get all your musicians to hop on board methods of selling that are tailored to the digital age. There's so much music available for free or cheap already that really there should be no complaint about not having enough to listen to to the point where you have to pirate*. I now await everyone's arguments and verbal assaults. * two notes. 1) see here for an interesting read on piracy, and how I totally misused the word in this post http://newmusicstrategies.com/2008/04/03/should-i-be-worried-about-piracy/ 2) I'm primarily addressing people who live in the US, either as content creators or content consumers.

Destructoid posted about it. Thanks, DToid!: http://www.destructoid.com/-legal-sounds-illegally-selling-oc-remix-albums-and-more-220322.phtml

Yes, it was. http://www.tssznews.com/2011/07/22/nights-lucid-dreaming-creators-attempt-to-thwart-illegal-album-sale/ Really, just getting the word out and having a few sites and a lot of people email was exactly what resolved the issue with this one. However, that was just one album then...this is potentially a whole slew of artists that they host.

What happened when I found out that they were stealing NiGHTS: Lucid Dreaming was I put the call out online, here and elsewhere, to email them and bombard their twitter with requests to remove it. They took it down in under two days, but did not send a response email to me at all. I can only assume it would have the same effect again.

We've been going through some roster changes. You have good timing though: the last piece should be in hopefully before the end of this month. Thanks again to everyone for listening and giving feedback <3

I sent in my email already but if things were to be organized, we'd all need to post whatever links we find here and then just include a mass of things to remove in the emails. Lets see what happens in the time that it takes people to find links to other things they know are free or being sold there without permission, they might act fast to take the stuff down.

"It is with great pride that I dedicate this new school, sports arena, or attraction." (read: I fully support this initiative, I'll post some songs to suggest later)

Not exactly sure how successful anything besides email spamming and spreading bad word about them online will be. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Organization_for_Multimedia_and_Digital_Systems So basically it is something designated by the Russian government, which is currently of ambiguous legal status in its own country. I'm fairly certain that it won't back down much since its a government-designated entity that gives legalsounds clearance to do what it does. Prophecy sending a letter of that type might do something, but I think just having as many places as possible see and present the story would be more effective. Showcasing this kind of clear infringment of the Terms of Use that OCR puts forth, and the whole "holy shit they're selling free music that people work their asses off on and can't even sell themselves because its fair use" would cast them in such a bad light that they would back off a whole lot more. And at the very least, have a whole slew of people email the site requesting the removal of ALL OverClocked ReMix material and to very clearly state that anything from that site being sold anywhere is a breach of the terms of use and likely of legality. Also have people tweet at them requesting the removal. Maybe they'll get the hint if a fuckton of people do it. In fact, here, I made a template for y'all to email to them: Have at it, folks

Happy birthday to the eternal slave and servant of j00jcat.

I posted this in staffchat for them to look at. They're also apparently selling Badass and MegaMan9

Good, I also need to update it tonight, which will be done shortly before sushi but shortly after cleaning. Bumpyedit: I just switched over the serverbox so now we're running on a Core 2 Quad with 4GB of memory JUST FOR FUCKING MINECRAFT on the OCAD server. You're welcome, now come back and play. Please?

http://www.8bitx.com/OCAD/?p=834 Go there for 3 new episodes AND our magfest footage. We talk about the convention during Episode 86. This concludes my obligatory talking about stuff for today!

OCAD server needs another update. Blame verizon: 108.15.57.152

Though the bottom line is posting chronologically, there are things that sway which mixes are posted when. There's a lot of these, so it does kind of make it look random at times, but here's just a few examples: 1) An album mixflood 2) Some event happening that a TBP mix can be relevant to (see the Minecraft posting around Minecon, or the recent postings for Gario, Flexstyle, and Rozovian for their Workshop Mod promotion, or even the mini-mixflood on the Metroid anniversary day last year) 3) Outside material is released and some of it has been submitted to OCR (see The One-Ups Super Mario Kart mix released near the time they did their album, or the mixes posted when Hylian Lemon released his Essence of Lime album) On the backend, there are some things that determine which mixes are available to post. Some of those older ones may have some minor thing that needs remedying, such as getting a proper bitrate version or consent of multiple artists if needed. There are a few other things, but you get the idea. It also really just depends on what Dave wants to post that day, but he does like to fall back on chronological order if all else fails. Hope that helps answer your question! Edit: Speaking strictly about patches, soundfonts, and presets, it doesn't really matter as long as it works. If something SOUNDS vanilla and boring and not good, then yes, it makes a difference. However, if it sounds good and tight and awesome, doesn't matter what they are. I personally use a lot of stock stuff and other people's presets because I'm not very good at making my own, nor do I have the knowledge to make stuff from scratch. And for things like Kontakt and Omnisphere, the presets that they come with are awesome. I'd say posting one every 3 days would probably be the best way to have your WIP mixes up without seeming like spamming. There's no hard-rule but obviously there's some logic in not shooting yourself in the foot by posting way more than people can get to. Sooner or later, it might be best to only post some of what you do there, and do the rest via direct feedback with people on the side.

....oh....oh my ABOBO http://abobosbigadventure.com/

I got a response from one of them saying it needs more research ages ago, the other one never got back to me. I'm fairly certain nearly all offices are deflecting calls today, though it is a shame that one hung up on you immediately. You should call back again and again until they talk to you Did you even say anything or was it just up->click?

Well, this "dangerous and troubling development" has given so much more exposure to SOPA now. As of this morning, check out these frontpages: http://www.cnn.com/ http://www.msn.com/ (first slide) http://www.aol.com/ (not on the top but near it, you can see it third row down on the right) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/ http://www.foxnews.com/ (I never thought I'd see the day) http://news.cnet.com/ And despite all this Ravens brew-ha-ha going on, even the Baltimore Sun, my local paper, has something on it. Even if its just under the Business section http://www.baltimoresun.com/ Edit: Two funny quotes from Lamar Smith. [On Wikipedia's blackout] "It is ironic that a website dedicated to providing information is spreading misinformation about the Stop Online Piracy Act," Smith said. "Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy." [in response to the White House announcing it "will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet"] “I welcome today’s announcement that the White House will support legislation to combat online piracy that protects free speech, the Internet and America’s intellectual property," Smith said, according to The Hill. "That’s precisely what the Stop Online Piracy Act does."

Okay! I UPDATED IT FOR YOU ALL NOW STOP MAKING PROJECTS PLEASE GAAAAAAAAAAAH

Nope! Also, just showing off, we had prototypes of the proposed OverClocked University shirt on at MAGFest, check it out.

Congrats on FINALLY I HAVE SOME HELP IN THE WORKSHOP

What elitist secret ff6 project? I only know of a secret ff6 project.