Bye-bye Bossa Nova Podcast
 For the past few years
I’ve had a musical soft spot for all things bossa nova. I trace my growing interest
in this Brazilian music directly back to the 2001 release Casa, by Morelenbaum2/Sakamoto,
a highly lauded album featuring compositions by Antonio Carlos Jobim performed in
minimalist form. My enjoyment of Casa spurred me on to listen to more Jobim, which
led to discovering more Brazilian music, both contemporary (Cibelle, Celso Fonseca) and
classic (Joćo Gilberto, Elis Regina). The only problem I had was that, after a while, it
got harder to find new music. Usually I find satellite radio a decent way to find new
music, but while there may be 60-odd channels of satellite-radio music, not one regularly
featured bossa nova.
One day I was looking on iTunes for new podcasts to listen
to and, not expecting much, entered "bossa nova" in the search engine. I came
across a podcast originating from www.bossanova.fm
and hosted by Claudio, a native of Chile who now lives in Madrid. I downloaded his
podcasts and put them on my iPod. During my next gym workout, I was delighted to find that
they consisted of Claudio introducing bossa nova songs and artists and playing their work.
The podcasts were delivered at 96kbps, which made them just fine for the gym and gave me
ideas for my next visit to the record store (though later, on my home stereo, the lack of
fidelity was evident). Finally, I had found a place where I could find artists I’d
overlooked, or hear unfamiliar tracks from familiar artists. When I got home, I checked
out Claudio’s website to discover a wealth of information, including videos of Jobim,
Bebel Gilberto, and Elis Regina. I subscribed to his podcast and bookmarked the site.
In mid-March, Claudio received an e-mail alerting him that,
by using copyrighted material in his podcasts, he was in violation of the Digital
Millennium Copyright Act. In response, he removed from his site all ten of the podcasts he
had produced by that point. For two reasons, this saddened me.
First, it was clear from listening to the podcasts and
reading his website that Claudio wanted to introduce people to this music. He wasn’t
making money from the podcasts, so he was essentially advertising these records for the
record companies for free. He had introduced me to several artists whose albums I’ve
since purchased or wrote down on my "to buy" list. Without Claudio’s
podcasts, I’m back to looking for new artists the hard way, and my "to buy"
list will likely grow at a much slower pace. By encouraging blind enforcement of copyright
protection, record companies lose some of the best free advertising they could have.
Second, not only were Claudio’s podcasts acting as
advertising, they were educational. By highlighting old and new bossa nova, Claudio
provided lessons in musical history. True, his commentary was minimal, but the astute
listener could gain from his podcasts an appreciation of the history of Brazilian popular
music. Perhaps if he’d provided more commentary and discussed each song’s
significance, Claudio’s podcasts would have met the criteria of fair use, which would
have allowed him to use copyrighted material.
It is reasonable for the owners of intellectual property to
want to control the economic benefits generated by that property. It is less reasonable to
want to control all uses of that property, particularly uses that are not
detrimental to the economic benefit realizable by the owner. Claudio produced podcasts
that educated people about Brazilian music and acted as advertisements for artists and
albums that receive little attention from the mainstream media. The podcasts were recorded
at bit rate low enough that they did not compete with the quality of the official
releases. Perhaps, instead of receiving cease-and-desist orders, Claudio should have been
sent a letter of thanks for promoting these artists and their recordings.
Although you can no longer enjoy Claudio’s podcasts,
Aperion Audio’s Intimus 632-LR bookshelf speakers and Intimus S-10 subwoofer can
provide hours of musical enjoyment. However, you won’t find them at your local store
-- Aperion speakers are available only directly through their website. The company offers
an in-home trial period, but direct marketing means that reviews are also valuable to
potential customers. As this month’s review shows, I enjoyed my time with the Aperion
speakers and think they’re worth your attention.
…Eric D. Hetherington
|
