I spent the evening packing up my studio and clearing my room out. It is almost time to say goodbye to the room where I first discovered making music. Very soon, those boxes will be open, and another room, another incarnation of my studio will be up and running.

I wonder what kind of music I’m going to make in the new studio.

Now dear readers, you must find it interesting that I talk about my music yet you cant hear it.

Soon… soon.. you will hear it. I’m sure you will like it.

Well, the bad news is that you cant back up your expensive record collection to your lovely little iPod. Keep it in the box or let it gather dust.

RIAA’s iPod Usage Policy

Ripping music from CDs and transferring it to an iPod does not constitute fair use, according to a document filed by the major record companies.

In a filing to the US Copyright Office, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) attempts to undo a statement it made in court during the recent successful prosecution of the Grokster p2p company.

In court RIAA lawyer Don Verrilli said: ‘The record companies have said, for some time now, and it’s been on their website for some time now, that it’s perfectly lawful to take a CD that you’ve purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod.’

However in the Copyright Office filing the RIAA takes a contrary view.

‘Nor does the fact that permission to make a copy in particular circumstances is often or even routinely granted, necessarily establish that the copying is a fair use when the copyright owner withholds that authorization,’ it argues. ‘In this regard, the statement attributed to counsel for copyright owners in the MGM v. Grokster case is simply a statement about authorisation, not about fair use.’

In other words, explained Fred von Lohmann, senior staff attorney for the EFF, a leading digital rights campaign organisation, if you want to copy a CD to your iPod, get permission first.

‘If I understand what the RIAA is saying, “perfectly lawful” means “lawful until we change our mind”, he wrote in the EFF blog. ‘So your ability to continue to make copies of your own CDs on your own iPod is entirely a matter of their sufferance. What about all the indie label CDs? Do you have to ask each of them for permission before ripping your CDs? And what about all the major label artists who control their own copyrights? Do we all need to ask them, as well?’

The RIAA filing will help to determine what are considered ‘non-infringing’ activities under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). The law requires the US Copyright Office to set exemptions to the DMCA’s stipulation that makes it illegal to circumvent digital rights management (DRM) anti-copying technologies.

In addition to attempting to have CD copying to iPods outlawed, the RIAA also believes that making a back-up is outside the realms of fair usage.

‘Similarly, creating a back-up copy of a music CD is not a non-infringing use,’ it stated, adding that, ‘the fact remains that there is no general exception to allow back-up copying and thus no justification for allowing circumvention of access controls for this purpose.’

The EFF has declined to submit evidence this year, having done so in the previous two, because it believes ‘the rulemaking process is simply too broken’ and that consumers are simply being ignored.

‘Where consumers are concerned, the Copyright Office discounts their concerns as “mere inconveniences”, Lohmann explained. ‘Copy-protected CDs are no problem because you can play them on CD players, even if they won’t work in your computer. Where the copyright industries are concerned, in contrast, the Copyright Office presumes that DRM is the only thing that stands between them and financial ruin.’

If I had a recording contract, I would not be too fussed about people copying my CD’s for backup purposes as long as it is not resold. I would be making enough money to live the life worth living and all that jazz.

Im sure most artists agree, and its time those artists start speaking up for their fans unless they have forgotten what made them want to create music in the first place.

None will say it was for the money…

It has been an eventful 24 hours. I wish the events were ones that I would want to cherish and remember, however life as we all know has the good and the bad. It was my turn to endure the bad events.

Right now, I feel kind of.. well to say numb would be incorrect. I feel sad at my mother’s passing but I do have a lot of positive hope for the future. The new chapter has begun and what is crazy is that my musical machines are once again calling me after a long time of silence.

Today, I have been working on several new ideas which are actually taking shape into songs. It is all rather strange as my work processes are not usually that quick!

Out of emotion, good or bad there is the one constant in all of our lives: Music. Regardless of one’s personal taste it is a comfort, it is there to help us pick ourselves up again after a bad fall.

Its times like this when I think of what life would be like without music and it is not a good thought.

Music is the ultimate comfort when one needs to be alone, when one needs to escape from others. It can help us laugh, cry or get over lost love with the added bonus of making one hopeful again.

Recently I thought my own musicianship disappeared forever. But somehow out of all the recent bad times, I still believe in a thing called music.

I watched a documentary about him the other week and his fingers were really dirty. I guess women, especially supermodels like dirty fingers. Does it heighten sexual attraction I wonder? Perhaps I should try this?

Anyway. Read the first comment over at: The Guardian’s Culture Vulture Blog

Sheer brilliance. That scribe should be signed up!

It takes me a long time to write tracks. How long is long? Actually it can mean a few years.

Wait a minute. A musician who works on his music for years without releasing it? Yes, that is me. I am Stephen Sherry and I now claim to be the worlds worst musical procrastinator.

For example: I have a new track that is to be called Nightlife. I started work on the track about two years ago. Its a funky piece of electronica/dance/electro. Minimalist, but large in sound. For a year of the development time the work was all on the sound and effects.

The last year has been structure. My music making process occasionally worries me. Why does it take me so long to finish a piece of music that is not intended to change the world, or to go platinum in 29 countries? I make my music for my enjoyment, but this does not speed up the work.

Procrastination and just maybe the slight paranoia of other ears being turned off by my work.

My last major musical project was a pitch for the new Dr Who series that started in 2005. I created several incidental music tracks and a problematic theme tune arrangement. Both were well received, and I never got one bad comment. The work was so strong, that a number of small production companies asked me if I was interested in scoring for their projects.

I declined all offers because the projects did not interest me nor would they motivate me, and also due to my commitment to my own music. However it is a strange commitment, perhaps more of a contradiction.

The musical belief will always be there. Belief in the music. All I want to do is to make people dance, and perhaps make something that they will remember for a long time.

Its taking quite a long time though to make them dance. By the time my vision is realised, they will all be too old to dance at 137BPM.

I set my standards too high. Any work I create, it doesn’t get a bad reputation at all. The standard has been set. I try to outdo the last project, but trying too hard yields no result. Procrastination sets in, and no results.

I stare at my synthesiser and wonder if the day will come when I can write an album’s worth of material in three months instead of 11 long years.