Deb and I did our usual Sunday show, cutting it to an hour because we were going to be right back on Friday with Pete Berwick, who's appearance on ABC's "Wife Swap" re-aired and because we wanted to catch Jody Parker's show over on blogtv.
Anyway, on to Friday's show. As our good friend Pete is portrayed on Wife Swap as some kind of mindless testosterone filled sexist pig, (never mind that he really isn't like that) we thought it was going to be the "Berwick Barbecue" and we would have throngs of pissed off, irate females calling in and Pete was ready for 'em!
Unfortunately, despite heavy promotion by myself, Deb, and Pete, we didn't have hardly any listener traffic for the show. I'm really not quite sure what happened, whether maybe it was because the show was on a Friday and I don't usually do shows on Friday, some kind of glitch on blogtalkradio that I was unaware of, or what but the stats for the show were pathetic. I think personally it would have been better if BTR had featured the show, I mean what the hell, I had a guy on the show who was just shown on NETWORK television and I would think that maybe the network I broadcast the show on would have bumped one of the hosts that they always feature and put this on, but unfortunately they didn't.
Not to take anything away from these other hosts, they do really great shows, and have always been gracious to me whenever I've wandered in, I just wonder why they are always featured irregardless of who one of the rest of us might be having on a show. I just think this is very strange, and it left kind of a bad taste in my mouth.
And yes, honestly, if I noticed that different shows were being featured on Friday, besides the ones that always are, then yes, I wouldn't feel this way. It's just that between the site redesign that isn't working, the technical glitches that had gone away that came back with said redesign, and the same hosts always being featured no matter what I'm really starting to wonder whether I want to continue broadcasting on blogtalk, or move the show.
(I am starting to investigate other broadcast sites, anybody know of any let me know)
So anyway, despite the low listener traffic, Friday's show was still a good one. Pete wasn't exactly happy about how he was portrayed on Wife Swap and let us know about it...lol
We also discussed his new album, why the music industry is totally screwed up, and even a taste of the old days when I did a political show, we also discussed politics.
It's a long show, but a good one, second on the player right now so check it out. Might be better to download this one and slap it on an i-pod/mp3 player. I would have to warn everyone that we did use some pretty strong language during this broadcast. (maybe better I wasn't featured...lol)
Then, this last Sunday we discussed the RIAA's latest go around with lawsuits. First, here's a newsflash, they haven't stopped with them despite media reports that they have.
One of the articles we talked about from elanso.com was about the Jammie Thomas case.
Here's a unique defense to a Recording Industry Association of America file sharing lawsuit: Admit liability and challenge the law under which you're being sued.
That's what a Bronx woman did Monday in New York federal court (.pdf). Denise Barker is accused of file sharing eight songs on the Kazaa network in 2004. If found liable, she faces fines under the Copyright Act of $750 to $150,000 per song.
Barker's attorney, Ray Beckerman, admitted the woman file shared and challenged the constitutionality of the Copyright Act, the law under which the RIAA sued Barker and thousands of others. The fines the act authorizes for each download is unconstitutionally excessive and against U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Beckerman said.
Beckerman, who writes the Recording Industry vs The People blog, estimated its costs the industry $3.50 per download, meaning the penalties could exceed thousands of times the actual injury to the industry. Rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts say financial punishments exceeding a 9-to-1 ratio are unconstitutional.
"It's an ideal case to litigate the damages issue. She actually did make some copies through Kazaa," Beckerman said in a telephone interview.
The RIAA has sued more than 20,000 individuals for illegal file sharing. Most of the accused settle out of court for a few thousand dollars.
Only one case has gone to trial.
In that case, A Duluth, Minnesota jury last year ordered Jammie Thomas to pay $222,000 for file sharing 24 songs on Kazaa. She denied her guilt and challenged (.pdf) the constitutionality of the Copyright Act after she was found liable in October.
The Bush administration weighed-in, urging Judge Michael Davis to uphold the penalty.
A hearing in Thomas' case was set for Monday, where the arguments instead are expected to focus on the so-called "making available" argument.
The RIAA claims that file sharers are liable for infringement solely for making available copyrighted works of music on peer-to-peer file sharing networks. Among the reasons the RIAA makes such an argument is because it's technologically impossible to know if a file sharer's music has been downloaded by somebody who has not been authorized to copy it.
The judge in the Thomas case is considering ordering a new trial. He's concerned that he erred when he instructed jurors in October that the "making available" argument amounted to unauthorized distribution.
Breaking it down, she's being fined over $9000 per song. If this isn't excessive fines and punishment and a violation of our 8th amendment rights I don't know what is.
Here is a link to, who I think is one of the hero's of this whole insane mess, Ray Beckerman's blog who is the attorney challenging this nonsense in court.
recordingindustryvspeople.blogspot.com
We also talked about Friday's show, as well as some of the other artists we've had on. Right now, as it's the most recent show (at least as I write this) it's at the top of the player so be sure to check it out as well.
This coming Sunday, we are going to have Troy Castellano, who is the lead guitar and vocalist from To The Core. Check out their website at http://www.tothecorerocks.com/index.html
Awesome band, awesome website, and I'm looking forward to having another incredible show this coming Sunday, at 9 p.m. (eastern time) over on blogtalkradio so be sure to check us out.
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