Thread: Lollapalooza Webcast: Sponsored/Censored by AT&T?

This should be a concern to all that use the internet and worry about censorship.


LOLLAPALOOZA WEBCAST: SPONSORED/CENSORED BY AT&T?08.08.07

After concluding our Sunday night show at Lollapalooza, fans informed us that portions of that performance were missing and may have been censored by AT&T during the "Blue Room" Live Lollapalooza Webcast.

When asked about the missing performance, AT&T informed Lollapalooza that portions of the show were in fact missing from the webcast, and that their content monitor had made a mistake in cutting them.

During the performance of "Daughter" the following lyrics were sung to the tune of Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" but were cut from the webcast:

- "George Bush, leave this world alone." (the second time it was sung); and

- "George Bush find yourself another home."

This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media.

AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media.

Aspects of censorship, consolidation, and preferential treatment of the internet are now being debated under the umbrella of "NetNeutrality." Check out The Future of Music or Save the Internet for more information on this issue.

Most telecommunications companies oppose "net neutrality" and argue that the public can trust them not to censor..

Even the ex-head of AT&T, CEO Edward Whitacre, whose company sponsored our troubled webcast, stated just last March that fears his company and other big network providers would block traffic on their networks are overblown..

"Any provider that blocks access to content is inviting customers to find another provider." (Marguerite Reardon, Staff Writer, CNET News.com Published: March 21, 2006, 2:23 PM PST).

But what if there is only one provider from which to choose?

If a company that is controlling a webcast is cutting out bits of our performance -not based on laws, but on their own preferences and interpretations - fans have little choice but to watch the censored version.

What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band.

The complete version of "Daughter" from the Lollapalooza performance is posted below for any of you who missed it. We apologize to our fans who were watching the webcast and got shortchanged. In the future, we will work even harder to ensure that our live broadcasts or webcasts are free from arbitrary edits.

If you have examples of AT&T censoring artist performances around political content, it's a good thing for everyone to know about. Feel free to post examples on the official Pearl Jam Message Pit.

Edited and unedited YOUTUBE version are on the link below.

http://pearljam.com/news/index.php?what=News#195

AT&T calls censorship of Pearl Jam lyrics an error

Thu Aug 9, 2007 7:41PM EDT


LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - AT&T Inc said on Thursday a company it hired to handle the cybercast of a live concert by U.S. rock band Pearl Jam erroneously omitted lyrics criticizing U.S. President George Bush that were in a song performed by the band.

"Those lyrics in no way, shape or form, are something that should have been edited," AT&T spokesman Michael Coe said.

The censored lyrics, "George Bush, leave this world alone" and "George Bush, find yourself another home", were sung to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" into which Pearl Jam segued while performing "Daughter".

"This, of course, troubles us as artists but also as citizens concerned with the issue of censorship and the increasingly consolidated control of the media," the band said in a posting on its Web site, www.pearljam.com.

Coe said, "We regret that this happened and we're upset. We're working with our vendors to ensure it doesn't happen again."

The performance in Chicago, part of the band's Lollapalooza tour, was carried on AT&T's "Blue Room" Web site, http://att.blueroom.com.

In a posting on that site, AT&T said "the editing of the Pearl Jam performance on Sunday night was a major mistake by a Webcast vendor " and that it was contrary to its policy.

"What happened to us this weekend was a wake up call, and it's about something much bigger than the censorship of a rock band," Pearl Jam said on its Web site.

"AT&T's actions strike at the heart of the public's concerns over the power that corporations have when it comes to determining what the public sees and hears through communications media," the band said.

Coe said AT&T was trying to work with the band to get its permission to post the song in its entirety on the "Blue Room" site.

On Thursday, the band posted the edited and unedited versions of the performance on its Web site.




http://www.reuters.com/article/entertai ... 22&sp=true

Yeah, an error. Sure, that's it.