Blogger and Google have finally struck down upon music blogs. So far they deleted my friend Chris’s blog It’s A Rap, along with PopTartsSuckToasted, and Livingears (newly started at livingears.com), and irockcleveland . When google gets complaints from the big labels and legal companies, they always take action. It started with deleting posts that got complaints, and that is why I moved to wordpress in the winter of 2008. I had a feeling that soon it wouldn’t just be posts, but it would gradually move on to the entire blogs themselves.
Without warning, they just deleted all of these bloggers hard work. These guys have put hours of their lives into their site. This is complete bullshit. How the hell can google get away with just coming in and deleteing someone’s website? Ok they posted a track that made someone upset. Email them, and ask them to take it down. That would be the end of it. Was it really neccesary to delete their site? God damn!!!!
This is really upsetting to me, so I can only imagine how those guys feels. They are going to have to rebuild, and start from scratch now. For all you other blogspot bloggers out there, you better get moved over to wordpress, or at least back up your database right now!
24 Comments
I had the same feeling you did before moving to wordpress. this makes me nervous! hopefully the sites can be fully recovered!
for that much work it is surprising more bloggers dont go ‘hosted’
still sucks though
If they always act, can we complain about sites owned by studios? Likely this is a one way street, but it would be nice to put google’s don’t be evil slogan to the test the other direction.
@TLC – Good thing you moved man! We got out of there literally at the right time!
@bryon – I know. Once I heard google started deleting posts, I knew it was time to get the hell away from it. I put a lot into this site, I wouldn’t want someone to just delete it when they feel like it!
@Kurt – I doubt we would get any significant results, but why not try? Right, Kurt?
Pop Tarts? Been around forever! Wow. I had that creepy feeling so I made the move the other week….. so glad I did. I had been backing up my site by importing it into wordpress for the past year. Cutting the cord was hard, but so so worth it. Bye blogger.
Same thing happened to me last week. All my links are dead and the DCMA is all over my ass. Lame. Google SUCKS!
Sorry to hear about everyone’s troubles with Blogger. I started with Blogger and had the same problem. I then moved to Wordpress and soon saw Wordpress was the same way.
I moved to a self-hosted site in December and have been much happier. Of course, I’m pretty choosy on what I post (promos direct from artists mostly), but I haven’t had any complaints yet. If you have any questions about getting a self-hosted site going, I’d be happy to help. I don’t know anything about html or programming, but the process was fairly simple.
A few weeks ago our WP blog was shut down alongside several others without notice which we eventually found out was due to a major label taking umbrage to our posting Vampire Weekend – Contra.. We had a legally obtained mp3 which we streamed but without download enabling…even though we deleted the link when we got the notice, even though we couldnt understand what was wrong, this was not good enough..
We were deleted without notice or explanation… and effectively lost 1190 posts… we had only had maybe 3 DMCA notices in all that time… all from major labels.. suffice to say we were just devastated… it seems the term ‘distribution’ although vague can be used in any way the labels deem fit..
After a number of days and a shit load of unanswered communications we were reinstated but the damage was already done…
We are currently setting up a new hosted website ( which we are finding complicated but we are perservering!!!) where we have full admin control and the likes of google, blogger or Wordpress will not be able to control our destiny…
It really is a sad day. I feel terrible for all those that lost their sites at the press of a button, must be devastating.
@YouAreTheMusic Has anyone else had trouble with this on Wordpress? This is the first I’ve heard of Wordpress deleting blogs in this manner…very worrying. We used to get the occasional DMCA email when we were at Blogger but not since we moved to WP.
@TSURU – I know! I can’t believe PopTars got deleted, they were one of the first music blogs I ever read! You made a pretty smart move, thank god you did that!
@Skemaddox – Shit, I am very sorry to hear that! :-/
@Justin – Yeah, self hosting is literally the only option these days. Nice of you to offer help!
@You Are The Music – I’m really sorry to hear that. That is quite unfair. Site is looking good now, though!
@Hotcakes – Serious man. This is a sad day.
Any blogger who experienced something like this, feel free to use this comment page as a way to vent your frustrations. We are all ready to listen!
@SlimR there were several WP blogs we are aware of who were deleted over exactly the same VW post… no warning at all..
Since then we have become aware of many others who have suffered the same fate..
We were unable to access any of our content, get any response from WP, we were simply ignored…
It is impossible to know when one is posting whether ‘a label’ will lodge a complaint.. the DMCA documentation is so vague…
@Will We are still using WP at the moment but posting minimally whilst we get a site set up through BlueHost using WP software, but as we said we will be able to control what we post – we refuse to be handcuffed… Freedom of speech and the freedom to share music is a right…
Hey All,
First, to add to this discussion and reply to SimR, I think we have to make a distinction between “wordpress” and “wordpress.com”. I think most of the time when people say “moving to wordpress,” what they really mean is moving to a site where they are paying for their own hosting and using wordpress as their content management software. That is absolutely about the only true safe place for music bloggers to be (and who knows how long that will be the case.) If you just move your blog from Blogger to Wordpress.com, though, you are probably just as likely to face problems from the DCMA and possible shutdowns. The reason is because it is Wordpress the company that is hosting your content and probably your music files as well, so if they get a DCMA notice about you they are just going to go ahead and shut you down to protect themselves. So you’ve got to get on your own webhost.
I tweeted about this, and I’ll put it here if it’s okay with Will: for those bloggers who are now looking for a home, I just want you to know I can get you the premium wordpress theme Thesis for $40. It’s a good theme because it’s extremely flexible and you can start to learn html, css, and php through it with it’s custom functions and custom css options. Anyways, if anyone is interested in that let me know.
I just got hit today. I’d been writing I Rock Cleveland (http://irockcleveland.blogspot.com) for four years and out of the blue google sent me a generic DMCA notice (no indication of which post it was for), said I was a repeat offender and deleted me. So far, I’ve gotten nowhere with support.
Wow. I thought Google had stopped this but apparently they have ramped up there efforts. Anyone on Blogger now, keep importing your posts into a free and private wordpress.com account just as a backup. Obviously I would recommend moving to Wordpress(.org), but make sure you back up whatever option you choose.
As with the last time this happened – if people need some help – shoot me an email and I will try to sort it for you. A bit busy with exams at the moment, but I’m sure I an still answer any emails within a couple of days.
Sorry to hear this.
Hope everyone makes it out alive.
Stop posting copyrighted mp3s? And if you keep getting DMCA notices you’re obviously a repeat offender? God, so stupid
@You Are The Music You will need to still keep regular database backups because if BlueHost receive similar complaints they’ll just as likely shut you down immediately. Unless you create your own server and run it from your home then you’re never really out of the threat of legal action like this.
I write a Blogger blog that doesn’t post mp3s, but I feel that it won’t be a matter of time before they decide to delete my blog because I post videos and links to Mediafire files, so i’ve decided to import my three years of blogging to Wordpress(.com) and setting up shop there.
If a record label sends you mp3s to post on your blog and you do, does that somehow violate Blogger’s terms of agreement?
update: well, it’s good that I did that, because I just discovered that my blog had been deleted this morning.
Hey, at least Wordpress(.com) is alot better than old clanky Blogger.
Copyright infringement. Dang, there’s THAT technicality. Grown-ups live in a grown-up world. They have to abide by laws and such. Yeah, it’s crazy cool to post MP3s and such but grown-ups follow the rules and pay for what they exploit. How many of these blogs make money off ads with their infringing music posts? Thought so…
ok
Hey all.
I experienced the same thing a couple of days ago with my blog, “Blog Rockin’ Peet” (www.peetmachine.dk). I’ve been writing for two years and got 300+ blogposts deleted and god i can’t even imagine how many hours i’ve spend on that shit.
I’m eagerly trying to communicate with google, because 95% of the songs I posted I got from the artists themselves. Google has removed some of my posts before, also as a mistake as I got the tracks from the artists. Removing a post is one thing, but removing my entire fucking blog? You must be kidding me!
Anyways, if there’s any other blogger blogs which have been forced down, and if you’re trying to get all your hard work back, so you can copy the content an move to another system (wordpress), or at least just get an explanation, contact my on my email, will you not? I think we’ll have a better shot if we try this together.
All the best,
Peet
Hasn’t happened to my blog yet, (despite two DMCA complaints on behalf of two very low key artists) but I was still crushed to receive this news. Folks, try to stick with out of print/unreleased music exclusively, preferably with the artist’s consent.
I just thought of something from my past troubles with blogger/wordpress.com. I used to track my blog with Google’s rss fee mgr Reader. After my blogs were deleted, I still was able to copy and past posts into my new site. I doubt you can add your old blog to Reader now, but if you had been previously tracking, it might be an option. Albeit a tedious one, but still worth it (at least for your favorite posts).
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[...] Blogger/Google Fucking Over Music Bloggers | We All Want Someone To Shout For Blogger and Google have finally struck down upon music blogs. So far they deleted my friend Chris’s blog It’s A Rap, along with PopTartsSuckToasted, and Livingears (newly started at livingears.com). When google gets complaints from the big labels and legal companies, they always take action. It started with deleting posts that got complaints, and that is why I moved to wordpress in the winter of 2008. I had a feeling that soon it wouldn’t just be posts, but it would gradually move on to the entire blogs themselves. [...]
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