Google has deleted six of the most popular Blogger-based music blogs on the web (including their entire archives) in an effort to combat online music piracy. The move comes in response to Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) take-down notices.

According to The Guardian, the deletions were performed without clear notice, and bloggers are insisting that they did not host any owned content without permission.

The sites shut down were using Google’s (Google) Blogger (blogger) service; they included I Rock Cleveland, It’s a Rap, Living Ears, To Die By Your Side, Masala and Pop Tarts. Each was dedicated to introducing music fans to new songs and genres they might not otherwise experience, usually from obscure and independent artists.

MP3 downloads were often included with blog posts, but bloggers have claimed that nothing they’ve uploaded recently has violated copyright laws. For example, I Rock Cleveland owner Bill Lipold claims that all the MP3s served up on his blog in the past two years were either publicly released promotional tracks or provided by the labels or artists.

The take-downs have angered social media and music enthusiasts, who have started using the hashtag #musicblogocide2010 on Twitter (Twitter) in tweets voicing disapproval of Google’s actions.

Google responded to the outrage with a blog post explaining its DMCA policy. While Google usually gives bloggers a chance to respond to a single DMCA take-down request with a counter-claim, it explained: “When we receive multiple DMCA complaints about the same blog, and have no indication that the offending content is being used in an authorized manner, we will remove the blog.”

That might have been the case with these blogs. However, some bloggers who received lone complaints said they didn’t know how to go about responding with a counter-claim.

The issue is that the DMCA occasionally makes mistakes when sending take-down notices to websites — sometimes it doesn’t realize a site is within its rights to use that particular track — but bloggers feel that Google didn’t give them an adequate chance to defend themselves, and now months or years of blogging history (which is critical for serving readers and good search engine placement) are permanently lost — even if the bloggers are able to get their Blogger blogs reinstated.

Lawyers in the music industry are understandably sensitive about rights issues after the industry was turned on its head by illegal file sharing services like Napster, but they need to be careful not to anger consumer.

Source: Mashable.com - Social Media Guide