The TrueTalk Blog

Doin' What Comes Natur'lly

Ever hear this post's title song from Annie Get Your Gun?

Here's the first verse:

Folks are dumb where I come from,
They ain't had any learning.
Still they're happy as can be
Doin' what comes naturally (doin' what comes naturally).

The song came to mind this morning reading Mike Arrington's brief observation on the need for changes in copyright law. Here's Arrington's thought:

My position is that it’s bad to criminalize natural behavior. And watching a clip of The Office, whether it’s legally on Hulu or illegally on YouTube is natural behavior. The only question is whether or not people are getting sued, or going to jail, for doing it.

Now, that kind of common sense approach hasn't always won the day in legal matters but it certainly would make plenty of sense to Annie Oakley.

The idea that I can be sued for using a 30-second snippet of a song as background for a video...a video from which I earn no revenue and credit the original source...still  confounds me. Who's harmed?

Yes, yes, I know, artists have to protect their copyrights or risk losing all remedies from truly nefarious usage. But, criminalizing natural behavior is as sure a way of creating disrespect for the law as you'll ever find. And, as we've seen, many people will, predictably, ignore that law (some at their peril.

The only question about copyright law changes is when they'll happen, not if. 'Cause stoppin' us dumb folks from doin' what makes us happy - what comes natur'lly - is a losin' fight.

Broken Ankles & DNA

Watching Eight Belles finish second in the Kentucky Derby and then be euthanized was tragic. The current outcry over racing's safety is very healthy; Thoroughbred racing must do a better job of training and protecting these majestic animals.

But watching 60 Minutes last night was much more disturbing. The segment about the Dallas County prosecutor's record of erroneous convictions was heartbreaking. James Woodward was the focus. Woodward is a 55 year-old man who spent 27 years in a Texas prison for a rape he always contended he did not commit. Last week, DNA evidence proved he was right.

Here are my thoughts about reactions to these two things.

South Park Fans

If you love Erik, Stan, Kyle and the rest of the youngsters from Colorado, don't miss Comedy Central's latest entry into the world of online content. The site includes a blog, video from all 12 seasons and plenty of other goodies. Have fun!

Hat tip: Jack Myers Media Report

Joox: The Genie Has Left The Bottle

Have you seen Joox yet? Oh, boy. I just found out about it yesterday, via a Twitter tweet.

Simply put, Joox is like Napster for movies.

The FAQs say that Joox is a site "made for bookmarking" video from some outfit called Stage6.

What's Stage6? FAQ says:

Stage6 is a video sharing webpage, much like youtube.com but in high resolution DivX video format. This also means that they (stage6) actively search for, and delete, copyrighted content. Thats [sic] why stuff here might be removed.

Really? Removed? Well, this is going to be interesting.

Oh yeah, if you're interested in watching The Great Debaters (currently playing in a theatre near you!) on Joox, you can find it here. You'll need to download a little Firefox DivX plug-in to watch Joox content, which takes all of 30 seconds.

More problems for Hollywood.

By referring readers to this site, I don't believe I'm encouraging anyone to engage in any illegal activities, am I? Is it illegal for me to watch this movie online? I'm not downloading it; I'm streaming it.

Imagine what's coming...

Reading Backwards

After reading this post by Steve Rubel, I decided to take the plunge and switch from NetNewsWire to Google Reader for all my RSS feeds. It was a non-trivial process but I can already see how it's going to help me be more organized and efficient in processing information.

It's also helped me to re-acquaint myself with bloggers that I've drifted away from reading routinely. That re-acquaintance has been both productive and fun.

For example, Jeff Jarvis posted the following video back in April. Listen to how clearly Michael Rosenblum makes some key points about the how the revolution in video production and viewing that is sure to take a great leap forward in 2008 will transform our thinking about media.

Key line: "...the web site IS your focus group."

Here comes 2008...Happy New Year!

...And Pulled Out A Plum

Ever heard of Plum TV?

Neither had I, until reading a piece in the very informative Jack Myers Media Business Report. The Report is only one offering from Myers' highly engaging site. I met Jack at the TED Conference two years ago and recently ran into him again at the wf360 event at the NYSE. Having material of this caliber available daily, free, is just one indication of how far the content distribution revolution has come.

But, back to Plum.

It turns out that Plum TV ranked first in Myers' recent Media Brand Survey and Emotional Connections Report.  That report asked viewers how frequently they watched each of 103 networks, how relevant the network is to their viewing interest, whether or not viewers stay tuned during commercials,  whether or not they view ads on the network as recommendations which they might follow, and whether or not they valued the network enough to consider paying a special fee to watch it. Given today's media landscape, those questions struck me as a decent indicator of a network's  level of differentiation.

So, what is Plum TV? Well, it's a network of channels serving eight areas: Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, the Hamptons, Vail, Aspen, Telluride, Sun Valley and Miami Beach. See the pattern? Yup, $$$$; these are areas in which some of the wealthiest, most influential Americans live and play. Plum creates original content  that focuses on everything from the Aspen Institute's brainy ideas to conversations with moguls like Barry Diller and Donald Trump (!).

And, viewers love it.

Other top-ranked networks in the survey included Voy (Spanish language), TVG Interactive (Thoroughbred horse racing), The Africa Channel and the Gospel Music Channel. 

Fact is, nowadays all of us want to watch stuff that's suited to our own interests and sensibilities: the "ghettoization" of culture, and media, is progressing very nicely, thank you very much.

Forget "red state/blue state," modern life is way more fragmented than that, today. Check out Myers' site to stay in touch with all the ways in which media reflect that new reality.