busybee fluffy rambles

Okay it turns out that while the mobile version of PlexAmp works exactly how I want it to, the desktop version kind of sucks? Like, if you’re doing “album radio” (which is the shuffle-by-album thing I love so much) it is super easy to get out of the actual player view, and as far as I can tell there’s no way to get back into it except by restarting “album radio,” which then interrupts whatever it is you’re listening to.

Update: Turns out all you have to do is click on the mini-player, oops. Dunno why I didn’t try that before, it seems so obvious in retrospect.

Also its AirTunes “support” is just that it doesn’t prevent you from setting your system audio to AirTunes. That is… not useful.

So, okay, I think I’m sticking with iTunes on desktop, and still using my album shuffle playlist hack (which also lets me curate my upcoming listening and also, y'know, pause and resume).

But on mobile, PlexAmp seems to be the way to go.

No idea if they’ll even respond to this. They probably won’t. But it’s more paper trail for me and the credit card company, at least.

Hi, I am still waiting for contact information for your attorney. I cannot find any public records that indicates that he works with your firm and I would greatly appreciate any evidence to the contrary. The public records indicate that he works with Skyworks Solutions, a semiconductor manufacturer in Irvine, California.

Additionally, in the USPTO filing it appears that a registration was only performed for class 41, when I was told that it would also be registered on additional classes (namely 9 and 35), which would justify the amount I was charged. Could I please get an itemized bill of what the $999 went to?

I also still am concerned about the need for this registration having been done in the first place. Looking at the USPTO database, the only recent/pending registrations I’ve found for “Sockpuppet” or “sock puppet” are for the baseball team as previously mentioned (and they are indeed in class 41), and also there is still the issue of common law trademark regarding band names; for example:

• Gerben Law: An Overview of Common Law Trademark Rights
• LegalZoom: How to Establish a Common Law Trademark
• Stan Soocher: Big Legal Battles Over Rights in Bands' Names

• Secure Your Trademark: Trademarking a band name

  The legal advice is in; the mega pop star can’t force you to drop your band name because, technically, you arrived on the music scene several years before she did. But from now on, when you mention the name of your band, people are probably going to start humming “All About That Bass.” Here, the degree of trademark protection you missed out on becomes evident.

  […]

  Key Takeaway: When two or more non-trademarked bands share the same or a similar name, the one with the highest seniority usually wins and ends up with trademark protection.

• USPTO: I Received a Letter/Email…, particularly this excerpt:

  Federal registration is not required to establish trademark rights. Even if a trademark registration expires or is cancelled, the trademark owner may continue to have “common law” rights in the mark. Common law rights arise from actual use of a mark for particular goods or services and may allow the common law user to successfully challenge another party’s use in court.

Furthermore, my records show that I requested a cancellation of this process early on Friday, and I was told that I would receive a call “as soon as possible.” I never received that call, and then on Monday I was told that it was too late for a refund as the paperwork had already been submitted.

In addition, both California and Washington are two-party consent states, and I’d like to note that I was only informed that the initial call was being recorded quite a ways into it (when I asked for more information about the competing mark), and was never asked for my consent to be recorded. However, the existence of the recording was later used to threaten me when I mentioned the possibility of issuing a chargeback.

Given that the paperwork does seem to have been filed as promised, I am willing to only take a partial refund based on the services actually rendered, but I am still not exactly thrilled with how this entire process has been handled, nor with the timbre of your communications to me.

I am sure that any disputes along these lines can be cleared up with a simple conversation with your attorney, so I would greatly appreciate being able to have such a converation.

Thank you.

Hey y'all, it is Bandcamp Friday, a good time to buy independent music while Bandcamp opts to release their share of the purchase price.

As always, I have my latest released album, and the share also applies to preorders of Transitions. Or you might consider checking out some of my other many albums that you might not already be familiar with, such as:

• Alt-rock songs about cats and feelings and mental health
• Electropop songs about feelings and cats and mental health
• EDM songs about feelings and mental health (no cats on this one sorry)
• A variety show in which Radiohead takes turns with comedy showtunes
• Chill lo-fi music inspired by various coffee grinders
• An audio diary from the month when I almost died of a pulmonary embolism

But also this isn’t just me shamelessly self-promoting. I’m shamelessly other-promoting, too! Here’s a list of some of the albums I’ll be buying myself:

• Beatober ‘23, You Know, and Preserves '23 - Vol I by err:rawr
• A New Beat by Ulysses Owens Jr.
• Demo by Comfort Object
• City Slicker by Ginger Root
• Constellation of Souls and Turning the Tables by lowercase t
• … on reflection and September 23 by William Basinski

And, on the last one I preordered when air collapsed within by our dear friend, the medic, which was also released very recently.

Anyway. Support independent musicians by buying their music! It’s good for you, and even better for them.

If all went well, my concert is now underway. In theory, here is the VRChat instance (but if nobody’s there check the VRC group). And in theory, the stream should be live.

In practice, I am probably currently scrambling to get everything working at this very moment.