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Making Unreasonable Legal Demands Doesn't Represent A Digital Music Strategy
from the sue-'em-all dept
When Microsoft recently announced a deal to give Universal Music a cut of the sales from every Zune device, we noted that it wasn't at all clear why, apart from avoiding Universal's litigious streak, which has most recently targeted MySpace. Over at Digital Music News, a post points out the two events and wonders, based on them, what point there is to work with record labels on digital music products and services. It points out that Microsoft's desire to play nice with the labels has probably had a detrimental effect on the Zune, taking what could be a cool feature -- wireless P2P music sharing -- and hamstringing it with restrictions to the point where it's unsatisfying. On the MySpace suit, the point is one that the labels have failed to pick up on time and time again: that sites like MySpace actually help them out by letting people publicize their products and attract new listeners. You'd imagine that Universal might have figured this out, since plenty of musicians seem to have caught on, and actually put their music up on MySpace themselves so people can hear it and spread it around. Whatever happens with the suit, Universal won't win: if they lose the suit, MySpace and other sites will have a nice legal precedent and no reason to work with the labels in future. If they win, they might make a short-term financial gain, but will alienate MySpace and other sites that come after them. The bigger issue, though, is that a plan based on wringing payments out of anybody and everybody for copyright infringement does nothing to address the drastically changing content landscape, and doesn't represent a long-term strategy.
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Naaaa, not for me - I'll just live with the Radio or whatever. I'm not gonna headache over 'entertainment'. I'm even to the point I'm getting sick of hearing about any of it.
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Avoid buying Music altogether
I'm just avoiding buying music altogether. If I REALLY want a song, I'll just download that ONE song from Walmart for 88 cents.
I buy like MAYBE 2 songs a year.
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Score one for that record label. And they didn't even have to try for it.
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Apple doesn't pay labels, Microsoft does. Labels like Microsoft better than Apple, that's why they paid. They made a public statement saying that. Durr.
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Zune hacked espec. wireless protocol
DRM is doomed:
I'm waiting for the Zune to be hacked in order to bypass the DRM, especially in respect of wireless, so that you can capture songs from a Zune on your laptop or wifi-enabled PDA... even cooler would be to sniff two zunes "talking" and capture transfers passively, or to break into someone's Zune and steal all the content without them knowing.
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Re:
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A Venture Capitalist cousin of mine and I are working out a plan to start with independent record labels and offer their music online for hopefully less than half of itunes. I am positive it can be done, it will just take a good business plan and a professional "We're not out to destroy the RIAA but rather provide an alternative method of delivering music".
If anyone has any comments on how to make it a successful non-drm distribution source, fully legal, signed with bands etc, seriously email me. You guys are the closest things to activists this industry has.
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Maybe Microsoft or some other large
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Re: Whatever happens in the future
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the zune will be cool when
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Oh They Understand Fine, You Don't Understand Gree
Oh, think UMG understands the free promotion they get, and the huge benefit that represents when the RIAA acknowleges promotional expenses are half the cost of a blockbuster.
And? You expect gratitude? UMG have probably worked out they can sue any and all of the illicit promotional channels AND the promotion, and consequent sales will continue.
You see its all about squeezing as hard as you can, screw your artists, get your fingers in the hardware, sell the recording, sue the free "advertiser" and get your promotion for free.
All you suffer is being despised which is what the big bucks for lawyers and suits are all about compensating, it wouldn't be brains and integrity now would it?
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Universal cannot win this
The more important question for the labels should be about getting a cut of the advertising dollar that NewsCorp makes off every page with music in it. This should be proportional, based on a percentage of revenue -- and distributed through the collection agencies, as is the case with commercial radio.
Suing MySpace and everybody else one at a time is entirely counterproductive, and it stands in the way of making a workable industry practice based on mutual benefit.
Andrew Dubber
New Music Strategies
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