Weird Al Yankovic’s 2006 “Don’t Download this Song” oddly contains bleeps where he sings the words Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire, and KaZaA.
MTV, once known as a true source of Music Television, is taking the music industry’s fight against piracy to a rather insane level by now censoring the portions of Weird Al Yankovic’s famous “Don’t Download This Song” where he mentions the file-sharing programs Morpheus, Grokster, Limewire, and KaZaA on it’s recently launched MTvM website.
The opening verse of the song is supposed to read as follows:
Once in a while maybe you will feel the urge
To break international copyright law
By downloading MP3s from file-sharing sites
Like Morpheus or Grokster or Limewire or KaZaA
But, MTV has decided to bleep the parts of the song where he lists the file-sharing programs making it a sort of weird form of censorship that makes it look rather odd considering its love for the freedom of speech and expression that it has always claimed to champion.
The funny thing is that it most likely has the “Streisand Effect” of making people aware of something that they wouldn’t have already been otherwise. I highly doubt that the few who would have watched this video, I mean it’s Weird Al for heaven’s sake, would have suddenly jumped from their seats and begin using file-sharing programs like KaZaA for example.
Kids are way more likely to learn about file-sharing from friends and classmates , and so this censorship of Weird Al by MTV only serves to remind people how backwards the music industry is, and for many, why you began file-sharing in the first place
jared@zeropaid.com
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Not surprising considering they were the first website to block all traffic outside the US in order to comply with copyright. Seriously the internet is a global phenomenon how the hell does it make sense to have to follow geographic restrictions. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again copyright laws are going in the wrong direction and is damaging culture. In a normal world I would be able to watch videos on MTV.com from Canada.
There a freaking “Streisand Effect” now? When the hell did THAT happen? And what is it?
open_universe google is your friend.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz-grdpKVqg
@ Open
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
Thanks. Got it. Although personally I don’t feel that Ms. Streisand deserves to be immortalized in that way. Just my opinion.
You don’t think she should be remembered for being one of the first major ignorant twats thinking they could censor the internet? If anyone deserves such a negative place in history is Streisand. Although I do think the Hubbard effect would of had a nicer ring to it.
Do people even use those sites anymore?
Nah people abandoned Google years ago. It’s just tossed around as a verb like “pork”.
Kidding of course.
Nah people abandoned Google years ago. It’s just tossed around as a verb like “pork”.
Kidding of course.