On 10/13/2004 Adam Curry, formerly of MTV fame and currently gaining momentum in the blogosphere with being one of the pioneers of podcasting, played an audio question from one of his listeners on his podcast The Daily Source Code (TDSC) that directly asked whether or not he was using commercial music with a license. Curry answered with surprising candor:

To answer it right off the bat, no, I don’t have a license.

He goes on to say that in the past he has “done licenses with BMI” and then explains in depth how he is not podcasting in the US and where he is currently located (Belgium) the laws concerning broadcasting of digital music in Europe are currently in dispute. He does seem to be encouraging podcasters (outside Belgium anyway) not to do what he is doing with sort of the excuse: do as I say, not as I do. Curry explains:

We don’t have a couple of the laws that have been passed in the United States. That doesn’t mean that I think it’s right, and I think it should change.

Also, he fully acknowledges that some other podcasters, wrong or right will emulate what he’s doing as far as including unlicensed intellectual property in their podcasts. Based upon his commentary Curry seems to be among the crowd that believes the RIAA’s approach to commercial music distribution and broadcasting online is flawed. This is not an unpopular perspective. However, prosecuting fans for swapping music online illegally, despite being completely anti-fan and anti-consumer, has seemed to have at least some impact in moving music fans to legal online music venues and away from the P2P illegal filesharing networks.

In my opinion, this has made it worse for the artists because the online music catalogs at best are incomplete. This is coming from a paying customer of music online for over a year now. I’ve watched this evolve as more and more tracks are being added, but there is still a music void – and that void hurts the sale of music from artists who aren’t signed up for distribution online.

When I first listened to Curry’s TDSC 10/7/2004 podcast I heard him get into his car and then play an old rock and roll song from Sniff ‘N The Tears called “Driver’s Seat” that I liked. Shortly thereafter I logged into my paid monthly Napster account to locate the track for legal online purchase. To my disappointment, the song wasn’t available for purchase online!

Admittedly, this wasn’t a total surprise considering there are many songs I like and even entire bands like that still are not available for legal online download purchase as of this writing, it sort of adds an exclamation point to the current consumer confusion that runs rampant over music distribution on the web. Here Curry advertised music that this listener (me) wanted to acquire — legally — and it wasn’t even available to buy for online download. Did I check iTunes, Rhapsody or one of the other many online music stores? Nope. I’m sure somebody reading this will though, but my guess is that this song isn’t available anywhere as of this writing. I’ve been down this road with other songs many times and usually the answer is no, it’s not available at any of the legal online download music stores. There are exceptions like MSN Music’s exclusive AC DC catalog and iTunes offering some exclusives, but for the most part every one of the online stores is the same catalog with a different interface.

So here we have on one side the RIAA going after music consumers who they feel are pirating their music but they aren’t making the music in whole available and on the other side this ‘new’ way for amateurs to get their radio shows distributed to people’s portable devices which is being called podcasting. Some folks like Chris Pirillo don’t like the name podcasting and some others are going even further with their criticism over the name. Personally, I could care less what it’s called, I’m into what it does (not the above mentioned piracy angle), and what it does — provides for an easier distribution from content provider to consumer — which is exciting, a timesaver and cool. Some people are saying it’s like TiVo convenience for radio.

I don’t have an iPod, and despite the name it isn’t required, but I do listen to podcasts and though the vast majority of them are amateur radio quality, there is a deeper sense of honesty in them that you rarely get in traditional radio. Curry’s podcasts are among the better ones I’ve listened to so far and it is nice to hear some unfiltered dialogue in audio, similar to how blogs tend to filter the BS in traditional news media. In one way it is refreshing to hear the pioneer of podcasting be honest about not having the proper licenses to broadcast commercial music, but on the other it is disturbing. At the end of the day, it’s harder for the average guy to look unfavorably at Curry because he is promoting at least some music that isn’t even available for purchase online. I’m certain, however, the RIAA isn’t going to like the practice of broadcasting commercial music without a license, regardless of the label affixed to the activity; webcasting, broadcasting, podcasting, whatever. So what does Curry do next? He does what any rebel DJ would do: queues up a song, and says:

And I’m gonna violate those rules. Once again, I’m gonna violate the rules. We’re gonna stick it to The Man.

Wonder if — or more likely when — The Man will stick back.

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