I get a chuckle when I see things like “ten million songs, at your fingertips!” I don’t care about ten million songs. Give me one, really good one, that I haven’t heard. And we can go from there!

As such, I am excited that this week we have launched the latest and greatest versions of muzic, MP3 4U, and the MP3 Jackpot.

Together known as the Music Lover’s Playground, these sites were created by the MP3 Lunatics, of which I am one, to help bring the best undiscovered or under-discovered songs by artists around the world, to music fans who would really enjoy them. Using the power of human filtering, MP3 4U and MP3 Jackpot bring great songs to the fore, regardless of what label the artist is on, where they’re from, or any other consideration other than: does this mp3 rock?

The geeky term for it is “subjectively valued content” and it is one way the vast web of way too much information can be filtered in order for us to enjoy the best content for our personal tastes.

Please tell everyone about us, and link back to pages you like in our playground, from your blog, artist site, facebook, myspace etc.

Many thanks.

The MP3 Lunatics are proud to become strategic partners with Matchmine.com helping people find the music they’ll like but as of yet don’t know about.

Needham, Mass., July 23, 2008 – matchmine™, the leading provider of user-centric media discovery systems, today announced the addition of two new partners, representing four media destination sites, to the MatchKey Partner Network™. Treedia Labs, which owns Podcast.com and Videocast.com, and MP3 Lunatics, which owns Muzic.com and sister-site MP34U.com, will soon use the matchmine Media Discovery Platform™ to enable their users to discover content they love based on their unique preferences, delivering a better recommendation experience that generates longer session times and additional revenue. The new destination sites include:

• Podcast.com – Podcast.com is the first podcast consumption site to leverage the Treedia Feed Management Platform. Podcast.com provides users with access to over 60,000 curated podcasts and combines social media, viral sharing, and personal directory management functionality. Consequently, it is the fastest growing podcast consumption site on the Web. Podcast.com is a Treedia Labs property.
• Videocast.com - Videocast.com also leverages the Treedia Feed Management Platform. Videocast.com is the only video consumption site that is dedicated to Web-syndicated video programming. Videocast.com combines rich video discovery and consumption capabilities that provide users with a powerful video consumption experience. Videocast.com is a Treedia Labs property.
• Muzic.com – Muzic.com is the preeminent online directory of MP3s that facilitates free, legal sharing and discovery of a wide variety of music.
• MP34U.com – MP34U.com is a community-based website fueled by a network of sources dedicated to finding the best MP3s in the music universe and making them available to music lovers online.

“Muzic.com is a great venue for users to find new music they’ll enjoy, but might not have known about,” said Brian Villanueva, Muzic.com. “The predictive value delivered by matchmine provides our users with highly targeted recommendations based on their unique preferences, helping them to discover new music and connect with the artists that take advantage of our website.”

We hope this will help amplify the music fun at all of our websites.

Lory Lybeck, who claims to dislike arrogant bullies has just knocked a big bully down a peg or two. The RIAA is reeling. Lybeck, the lawyer who defended Tanya Anderson, has been awarded $103,175.00 of the RIAA’s money for his legal efforts.

The RIAA, if you remember, had sent investigators to Tanya’s daughter’s elementary school to squeeze the 3rd grader for information about her mother’s alleged downloading abuses. These heavy handed tactics have backfired just as the Lunatics predicted, and now the “litigation crazed” RIAA is going to pay for Lory and Tanya to sue them some more.

This time the stakes are higher, Lory and Tanya are asking for over 5 million dollars in damages for malicious prosecution. Plus they’re going to try to give it “class action status.” We all know, there’s plenty of people in that boat. Tanya isn’t the only innocent person the RIAA has wronged.

The Lunatics find ourselves feeling about the same as Jon Newton, who’s covered Tanya’s story for p2pnet.net from the beginning:

“How four, multi-billion-dollar, international corporate record labels have been able to get away with this in the so-called democratic United States of America is beyond belief.”

Rhapsody is the newest MP3 convert. It seems MTV and Real Networks, who own the subscription service, have seen the light, and now all 5 million of their music tracks are available as DRM-free MP3s. The Lunatics wonder how much longer before the record industry adopts the MP3 format as the de facto standard?

The Lunatics were right on when they predicted the growth of online stores selling MP3s. Seems now the telecoms like Verizon want a piece of the action, and they have partnered up with Rhapsody. Is this the new reality, all the music that you can purchase, is available over your cell phone? What a cool brave new world.

The Major labels are going headless. As market share drops, more upper level corporate heads keep rolling.

A few weeks ago “The Ten Million Dollar Man,” Clive Davis got put out to pasture on the Sony/BMG ranch. Now, it’s Lee Trink at Capital/Virgin Records, who’s resigning.

Next it’s going to be his boss, Jason Flom.

In today’s record landscape, if your current market share is shrinking, it’s either lose the big salaries, or close the office. There is no more salaried employees to lay off.

Yo, Guy Hands, what’s next? Selling EMI’s recorded music catalogue if Coldplay’s CD stiffs?

Thanks to Musicouch.com for including MP34U in “Extreme Music: Top 15 Free Music Websites That You Will Want to Visit.”

Boy, the Lunatics think, they hit the nail right on the head when Nelson Doyle said: “This website offers every music genre under-the-sun, and then some.”

It’s always gratifying to be recognized. What an nice, unexpected compliment.

Just as the Lunatics predicted, the RIAA’s lawsuits are starting to backfire. The recording industry’s legal strategy of suing their fans has received several legal setbacks this week.

First, a federal magistrate is recommending that Tanya Andersen be awarded $108,000 in legal fees. This recommendation made yesterday in Oregon by Magistrate John Acosta has the RIAA paying Tanya’s attorney, Lory Lybeck. Now with her fees being paid by the record companies, Andersen’s attorney is going to continue her class action lawsuit on behalf of all the other people the RIAA has sued.

And in an another case, Capitol v. Thomas, District Judge Michael J. Davis has “sua sponte” issued an order stating that he believes he may have committed a “manifest error of law” by giving an incorrect jury instruction. The instruction that accepted the RIAA’s “making available” theory had been debunked in another court earlier in this year. That means the RIAA’s legal eagles kept the judge out in the cold.

Deceiving our country’s courts is not in keeping with the “American Way,” but then again, none of the Big Four RIAA companies are owned by Americans. Why should they care?

Yes, it’s true. The Paul McCartney CD that was on sale at the Starbucks counter (Memory Almost Full) is going to be given away this Sunday by the London Daily Mail.

What does this say about the pop music scene? Well… one of the largest recording artists of modern times is now relegated to coffee counters and fish wrap. The Lunatics are happy for Sir Paul. It’s obvious his audience is literate. Plus, the Lunatics know following Prince’s footsteps is always smart.

Mitch, I read your speech, and I still don’t trust you.

Testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, RIAA Chairman and CEO Mitch Bainwol sounded sooo intelligent till he got to the part about “with respect for order.” He continues: “It means having an online environment that encourages innovation for legitimate commerce and social discourse and at the same time also has appropriate deterrents for online theft and other illegal behavior.” He just never says who was going decide what’s innovative, or what’s legitimate, or what appropriate deterrents are.

I just know one thing , I won’t ever want him or his RIAA cartel to be involved in those decisions. Along with his henchmen MediaSentry, the RIAA violates privacy laws and prosecutes innocent people in the name of stamping out piracy.

Yo Mitch, how do you spell hypocrite?

The decision yesterday in the Atlantic v. Howell case solidly put the nail in the coffin of the RIAA’s “making available” theory. The RIAA lawyers and their bullyboys, MediaSentry, used this theory to prosecute people who ripped CDs they bought and then stored their music in their own computer.

The Lunatics have been following this case closely, and were concerned by early decisions. The Howells have served as their own defense counsel, and the EFF wrote a masterful Amicus brief to The Honorable Judge Neil V. Wake. Judge Neil saw the light, and denied the RIAA’s motion for summary judgement.

The Lunatics applaud this sanity.