http://tags.library.upenn.edu/tag/tastemakers+fairuse PennTags Feed http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/35814 http://tags.library.upenn.edu/makerecord/url/35814 <p>Written by correspondent Siddhartha Mitter, this article defines what an audio blogger actually is.&nbsp; Mitter makes a claim that these MP3 bloggers are tastemakers--influencing their audience about what is good and what is not.&nbsp; An important point is that audio bloggers don't just post an MP3 file, they also provide commentary, "a whimsical capsule review, with sound attached," he calls it.&nbsp; He defines audio bloggers as unpaid obsessive music geeks who have capitalized on this generation's "sense of immediacy" about everything culture related.&nbsp; He&nbsp; acknowledges that bloggers have become the tastemaking elite, able to take acts such as Diplo from "obscurity to sensation" because of the 'buzz' these bloggere build.&nbsp; Also mentioned briefly is a vague allusion to an unwritten Bloggers' Code of Conduct', in reference to how long a song is allowed to remain an downloadable.<br /><br />This article raises several different issues pertinent to my topic.&nbsp; First, it underscores the importance of the 'non-commercial' status of blogs in regards to their legality.&nbsp; Second, it reaffirms the ideas that bloggers are the dictators of what is deemed "cool" as opposed to the industry public relation firms, music magazines, MTV (old media).&nbsp; Perhaps most importantly, it parallels the mp3 blog and the book review.&nbsp; An MP3 blog is contingent upon the fact that along with the MP3 posted, there is some sort of commentary to go along with it.&nbsp; To me, this raises the question of Fair Use.&nbsp; Obviously, book reviews are allowed to print excerpts of the book in their critiques, and the courts have ruled this as a transformative version of the original work.&nbsp; My insinuation, is that MP3 blogs could fall under the same statute.&nbsp; Does the fact the song is being being critiqued force the MP3 blog under the Fair Use Defense by creating a transformative work?</p>