Epitaph, Gym Class Heroes, Cobra Starship win PETA2 awards

PETA2 has announced the publicly voted Libby Awards, which honor animal-friendly people and products. Among the winners were Gym Class Heroes for most animal friendly hip hop artist, Epitaph Records as most animal friendly label, Cobra Starship and vocalist Gabe Saporta for most animal friendly band and celebrity. Pop musician Justin Bieber took “Best Newcomer” honors form the vote.

Peta2’s assistant director Dan Shannon added:

When it comes to fighting animal abuse, peta2 and today’s hottest bands are in perfect harmony, We thank these musicians for using their powerful voices to speak up for animals and for encouraging their fans to do the same.

Previous winners include Rise Against, Nine Inch Nails and AFI .
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Google shutting down music blogs

Curiously, Google has deleted at least six popular MP3 blogs that it claims violated copyright law. The sites, hosted by Google’s Blogger and Blogspot services, were given notices only after their sites and archives were deleted. What’s most curious about Google’s actions is that the deleted blogs hosted what could primarily be referred to as ‘legal’ MP3s, either from a promotional company, publicity firm, label or directly from an artist.

Google product manager Rick Klau responded to the deletions by stating, “When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorised manner, we will remove the blog” … “[If] this is the result of miscommunication by staff at the record label, or confusion over which MP3s are ‘official’ … it is imperative that you file a DMCA counter-claim so we know you have the right to the music in question.”

The aforementioned DMCA claim is hardly a safety net, however, as many of Blogger’s DMCA notices allegedly omit the name of the offending song, only causing confusion on the side of the blogger as to what they may be denying exactly. What’s more, many other MP3 blogs that illegally host full album downloads and the like remain online, hosted by Blogspot or Blogger and seemingly untargeted by the company.

What do you think? Should Google tweak their systems to weed out invalid DMCA claims? Is this just another case of ‘the little guy’ falling victim to an increasingly oversensitive and overzealous industry?
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Rage Against The Machine announce free UK gig

Rage Against The Machine Rage Against The Machine have announced plans to perform for free at London’s Finsbury Park on June 6, on the heels of the band promising said show if their 1992 song “Killing in the Name” made it to the top of the UK’s singles chart this past Christmas ahead of The X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s “The Climb.”

Ticket information for the show is available here.
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Traffic Street details ‘Dangerous Intersections VI’

Traffic Street Records has detailed the next installment in the ongoing 4-way split 7″ series, Dangerous Intersections.

“From Colorado comes No High Fives to Bullshit with some of the sludgiest, heaviest, most fucked up pop punk ever. The Manix play catchy, fast-as-fuck pop punk from MPLS in the spirit of Rivethead. Outta St. Louis, The Humanoids write smart, slick pop punk that’ll appeal equally to fans in the Ramonescore, East Bay, and Gainesville camps. And what would Dangerous Intersections be without one song that seems at least sort of out of place? Portland, OR’s The Taxpayers offer up a 4-minute epic motherfucker of a song that should sit pretty well with fans of The Sidekicks and anybody that thought “The Disco Before The Breakdown” was a step forward, rather than the beginning of the end.”

You can check out the song from No High Fives to Bullshit, as well as the cover art and track listing, at the label’s website.
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