AT (B)LOGGERHEADS

Elsewhere in the Blogosphere we've seen evidence that Google - the company that owns Blogger - has been removing blog posts that it believes have linked to copyrighted material.

We thought that we would be okay with regards to this as we're very careful about what we make available for download and we have, we thought, a respectful approach to artists and labels. In fact, what we do here is supposed to support that whole business. And we personally don't make money from any of this. I mean, can you see a banner? Or even those horrible-looking Google AdSense things? Nope, what we do is based around continuing the development of the nocturnal industry that we care about: it's all about supporting the artists, the labels, the DJs (who promote the artists and labels) and the clubs (that support the DJs that support the... etc, etc).

We fully respect the rights of artists and labels and do not condone the infinging of copyright. In fact we get sent material by representitives of labels that want their material up on the blogs. We also post lo-res DJ mixes featuring excerpts from largely marginalised music in the hope that it encourages people to seek out the original records. It's often done to prompt people go to the club nights where they will hear more of that kind of music and maybe even the artists that are creating it. We also make our policy on downloading pretty clear, don't we? And we have never - repeat: NEVER - even had one person approach us and ask for a link to be removed.

However, over the past week, we've had two posts taken down by Google. We're baffled. The first was followed by an email explaining that a promotional downloadable mix went against some policy or other yet there was no mention of what, within the mix, had caused the upset. We can embark on some lengthy process to have the post reinstated but, instead, we just sent a reply explaining our own stance. The second post - a mix from the guys at Jupiter Rooms - just vanished with no explanation whatsoever.

We're incredibly disappointed by Google's Draconian approach. With this blog recently winning a Best Arts & Culture Award (while actually noted for our use of media) and while we're also shortlisted for a national 'Best Blog' prize as part of something that is all about music promotion, it's frankly ridiculous.

Anyway, for the moment we'll be cutting down on what music we post here. For mixes and the like, we will probably start posting the links on our Facebook group that you will find here. Join us. Meantime, we'll also be looking to switch to WordPress.