Double standards for music blogs?

Submitted by joe.muggs on Thu, 11/02/2010 - 13:30
It has been reported today that Google - via its Blogger and Blogspot services - has been closing down popular music blogs and wiping their archives without warning, citing copyright violation by those blogs who post downloadable mp3s of the tracks they review. While hosting copyright material may not by the letter of the law be legal, it seems that this heavy handed approach completely ignores the subtlety of the "grey economy" that exists between bloggers and a music industry which knows full well what a valuable promotional tool they can be - and it appears to be yet another example of how far we are from a coherent approach by copyright holders and internet service providers to dealing with distribution of music and protection of copyright online.