Wednesday, May 9, 2007

EFF vs. Bloggers Against Music

I thought I'd better clarify something. On my sidebar are two items. A logo for the Electronic Frontier Foundation's Blue Ribbon campaign for free speech, and a list of "Bloggers Against Music." It occurred to me that some folks might find that a tad hypocritical. Here's why I don't think it is.

Bloggers against Music are not against music per se. What they object to is blogs that automatically load music and don't give you an easy way to turn it off. I've been to sites that don't give the user any way to turn it off. There are few things that will cause me to leave a site faster. Boiling it down, you may have right to free speech, but I have the right to not have to listen.

If you want to put music on your website for some reason, e.g. you're a performer trying publicize your work, or you collect obscure Medieval ballads, go ahead, but make listening an opt-in, not an opt-out. If I want to listen to your music, I'll click the play button.

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