Welcome to the age where music is considered a gawd given right. That's the end of it. Done. The musicians know it (see Radiohead, NIN, Coldplay and now Metallica, too).

Ads like this one from MTV's in-house unit aren't going to reverse the trend of illegal downloading (see a larger image here). Seriously, what kid is going to look at this and be like, "Ooooh! I'm an ordinary thief!" And then what? They're going to stop using Kazaa and The Pirate Bay? I think not people. The very effective Venables, Bell & Partners campaign, "The Montana Meth Project", this is not.

Clustarack? I'll never forget the name now. Have some patience and enjoy what is sure to be a huge viral hit among the web, tech, science, art farty kids who could actually use a Clustarack.

Ad folk are addicted to Twitter. Me? I prefer to just use it when there's something really big about to pop off, but otherwise, I prefer to stay on the down low and read other people's Tweets.

That's why I'm psyched about my fav new time waster! PSFK points us to Twistori, a new social/art experiment by Amy Hoy and Thomas Fuchs "that distills the thoughts, feelings, and hopes expressed in twitters around the world, running them in an ongoing ticker on Twistori.com."

Fascinating stuff. Go play.

HuffPo has just released an article by Randall Rothenberg, the IAB President, in which he defends the practice of behavioral targeting in the face of bills introduced to the The New York State and Connecticut legislatures, as well as the Federal Trade Commission.

Randall takes on University of Pennsylvania Professor Joseph Turow, who has written that interactive ads - as well as products, and services tailored to consumers' interests -- "encourage a particularly corrosive form of personal and social tension." He also singles out Jeff Chester, the proprietor of an anti-marketing group called the Center for Digital Democracy who has sought to redefine "personal identity" to include anonymous shopping behavior. He goes on to say:

"Behavioral data is not personal. To paraphrase the famous New Yorker magazine cartoon, when you're surfing the Internet, it's still true that nobody knows you're a dog. But providers can learn that you like dog biscuits, and serve you content and ads accordingly. Moreover, virtually all data collected online is behavioral - it derives from actions, not from survey responses. If politicians restrict it unthinkingly, advertising relevance will diminish, and spam will have a renaissance."

Not a bad argument, but consumers are consumers. On this sunny day in 2008, fear and consumer desire still rules the roost.

Omnicom can't stop. Won't stop. The latest news is that the company has teamed up with a newly created NBC Universal production unit to create programs around sponsors' products. It's like Honeyshed, but with air of pretension. This is straight up selling. Forget the cool kids, let's make some money!

NBC Universal Digital Studio will work with a division of Omnicom Group Digital to create web specific shows that allows advertisers to get in early and have some say in how their products will be featured. For an example, there's the Rosario Dawson (so hot) project titled Gemini Division, which comes with sponsors Intel, Microsoft, UPS and Acura TSX. Dawson is not only the star, but a producer. The Hollywood Reporter is saying, naturally, the web version is really just a test to see if the program can fly in prime time.

Omnicom Media Group Digital chief executive Matt Spiegel said that this new method of creating shows is:

"a unique way of giving brands a seat at the table with writers and producers in developing episodic programming that ties directly to brand needs."

Bravo to NBC for figuring out to be more flexible with content generation, as well as delivery methods, but um... doesn't that sound awful? The part where CMOs are getting in on the creative level? Oh. Oh. So, bad. You deal with these guys all the time. Good idea machines? Not so much. Wishy washy, knock-kneed, consumer fearing blowhards? Hell, yes.

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Phenomenal! AdGabber, the social network for advertising professionals, has hit 4,043 members. Steve Hall, the maestro behind the long established Adrants blog and network told us that:

"I just want it to be a place where the ad industry can come together, network and exchanges ideas for the betterment of the business."

I'm a member and admittedly, haven't been using the site to its full potential. Since I last dropped by, AdGabber has exploded into a mash of message boards, forums and groups such as The Creative Director's Club where CDs can chat about their work while exchanging ideas.

Well, well, well... who knew that ad folk could socialize without a beer or very, very dry white wine in hand?

"Tomorrow this agency will launch a giant floating turd held together with duct tape. we will call it 'WEB SITE.'" - anonymous Avenue A/Razorfish

This wryly expressed sentiment is in regards to Avenue A/ Razorfish's new work for the Sheraton Hotels titled the SheratonWave, which runs alongside the upcoming Final Four men’s college basketball tournament. The site, brings together college sports fans and iconic images of sporting events. Know you get the Wave part right? I thought that for a second, every Sheraton was going to be offering one of the wave pools at their hotels, but alas... it's actually about the first-ever online version of the wave and features hundreds of linked video clips of college basketball fans across the U.S. doing it. Users are encouraged to upload their own video or use a unique webcam tool to film a wave directly onto the site.

Poop! Poop! I smell it! Here's the thing, the wave is like 500 clips of people standing at different distances and angles from the camera, so it's not like some weird Michael Jackson Black and White thing. It's just people in their living rooms edited together at random. It's strange, but no, no - not exciting at all. Poop! You can also sort by college, say Texas or Winthrop. Fart!

Okay and what does this have to do with Sheraton? The hotel chain is an official partner of the NCAA, but so what and what else? Are they trying to say they are offering discounted rates for basketball fans who are going to see the final NCAA games? Hmm.... don't see that in the copy. Oh wait! Duh. If I start booking a room using the box on the right, THEN they tell me there are special offers. Right. That makes no sense considering consumer behavior. Tell me BEFORE. Poop!

Are they trying to align themselves with the excitement of the tournament? Possibly, but this is pretty half assed. Are the trying to grab onto this unruly beast called social media? Dingdingdingdingding! We have a winner ladies and gentlemen. The social media aspects are what - user-generated (done and done and done to death) and embedding? Poop! If you want it to spread across colleges (those in and out of the Final Four), you gotta do make it easier to unfurl and take a chance on pairing it with other social media technologies. Gotta wonder how many billable hours Avenue A spent at these campus getting people to do the wave so there would be content on the site when it launched. Dying to know.

Avenue A makes good websites. They do. However, this campaign is missing something for me and yes, I like basketball.

If you missed it, a Leopold and Loeb-eque pair of alleged delinquents posted a fake "moving, everything must go, just come and take it" ad on Craigslist. The victim came home to find most of his furniture and gear being hauled out of his house. The duo, Brandon and Amber Herbert, posted the ad in an attempt to cover up the fact that they had stolen other items from the victim's home at an earlier time. However, these two geniuses used a traceable IP address to post the ad. Seriously? Come on... Tech crime 101, kids. Tech crime 101.

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Google really is trying to get in your good graces. YouTube will not give posters more details about who is watching their video clips. The program called YouTube Insight, is free, but is still an attempt by Google to make money of its $1.76B purchase. Marketers who buy ads on YouTube already get statistics about the performance of their ads, but this new program will break down viewership by day and shows the states or countries where most viewers are. Kind of like a Nieseln thing, but no, not at all.

Tracy Chan, a YouTube program manager said that the new tools, "give a lot of context around the performance of video over time, where are your audience coming from and how your message is connecting to your audience."

Who doesn't love that? Good for them for trying to make some cash. Google actually saw slower growth in the number of clicks on text advertisements last month, adding to folks concerns that the economy is going to touch every last bit of business. Well, just chill okay? Seriously. Google is gonna be fine. I think. I think.

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Remember when we were looking for art directors gone wild? We got a bit sidetracked, but we're bringing the series back and in full effect. Steven Rood is a freelance senior art director at Chiat LA where he's been on hand to help with their creative since 2002. Rood also happens to be a fine art photographer. Some of his shots are kind of like a photo version of an Andrew Wyeth painting, no? Anyway, catch this - part of his sales go to various conservation groups.

Here's Rood's story of breaking out of art director hell and into the wild:

"I quit my full time staff job as an Associate Creative Director back in 99 to spend more time wandering the wild places. When I'm not freelancing for Chiat or Team One or Ground Zero of course. Luckily with many years of faking it in advertising under my belt, I've gathered a large group of friends whom I can count on to buy my work and keep me from having to give up champagne for Pabst Blue Ribbon. Thus my work is well collected. From worldwide creative directors (pssst - Lee Clow) to agency producers to creatives to production companies and actors, my work hangs on some pretty cool walls. Take a gander at my Bio and you'll see what I mean. I've had several solo and group shows. I've won awards. I've been published. And people call me by my first name at Samy's camera.

Yes children, there is a life outside of 14 hour days and working weekends. A place where you can create and make money and nobody tells you to make the logo bigger."