Music blog Nodatta was recently taken down in a move by the RIAA to close down some of the more popular blogs that distribute copyrighted material.
Ironically Nodatta, which was known for offering up rather obscure music - via filehosting services such as RapidShare and Megaupload - was taken down (the rumours has it) for posting a leaked advance copy of the new Mars Volta album. The interesting part about it is analyzing the two factors involved that made the RIAA take action.
The first and obvious reason is that The Mars Volta is released on a label represented by the RIAA. I can't help but seeing the humor in the steps "enthusiasts" are taking, in developing sites such as http://riaaradar.com, which is a database meant to warn you if an album/artist/song is maintained by RIAA interests.
The second reason is supposedly that RIAA focuses on eliminating distribution networks that release material which has yet to hit the shelves. Seems to me as two perfectly good reasons, and to give the much hated RIAA some credit, this seems only fair. Nevertheless, Nodatta will be missed, not so much for it's downloadable content, but for it's genuine talent to provide new, original and at last but not least, fantastic music. It rivaled most of the traditional sites I use to learn about new music (I'm looking at you overrated-Pitchfork).
It's not my place to condemn the actions of copyright holders in these cases, but I can't help but pausing and reflecting on the hundreds of comments on the now empty Nodatta blog, which has shocked users exclaim that they've bought alot of music by bands they've never had heard of if it wasn't for the blog.
Quite the dilemma...
