RSS
Twitter
Now That It's Getting A Cut, Warner Says Imeem's Not So Bad
from the protection-money dept
A service called Imeem launched a little while back, and it allowed users to build playlists of music, videos and photos and share them with their friends. Despite the fact that it didn't offer any way to download copyrighted music, Warner Music sued Imeem, saying it was making money on "the illegal use of free music." How quickly things change: Warner has now dropped the lawsuit and licensed its catalog to Imeem, in exchange for a cut of its ad sales. Paidcontent says the deal is part of a trend of media companies showing a willingness to cut deals with these sorts of companies, "having decided its better to bring in revenue" than fight in court. But looked at another way, Warner is charging Imeem for the privilege of promoting its music. It paid its lawyers to threaten the company with a lawsuit and hammer out this licensing/revenue share deal, when instead, it could have simply let Imeem be and embraced the promotional value of its own content. It's pretty unlikely that Imeem will deliver significant revenues to Warner; changing how it perceives its own content and evolving its business model seems the wiser long-term bet.
Reader Comments (rss)
(Flattened / Threaded)
"the illegal use of free music."
wtf... you can't even talk about what you listen too???
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Yeah, I guess not.
Oh well, I will be a good little pleb.. I won't EVER use file sharing or online playlists.
Eventually, once the Media industry find out how useful they really are - people will be too reluctant to even use it anymore.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
MAFIAA Theme Song
Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.
"I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down."
Oh wait, did I just infringe on their copyrights or licenses or some similar carp by quoting a line from the song? They would probably claim so. Or at least their lawyers would.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Free money
No son were a corporation we're not interested in free money.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
things like this and the zune deal are very bad news as they set the precedent that we need to pay for things that we really should not. ("we" being either companies or consumers)
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: MAFIAA Theme Song
Funny choice of a theme song. You should read the part about the Rolling Stones here Wiki Verve
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
And I'm sure that Warner Music will turn right around and pass the cash on to their artists.
When will the artists stand up and demand this revenue?
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Definitely Support Warner
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Definitely Support Warner (with comment)
Sorry for above post error. Warner did the right thing. Sometimes filing suit is a way to lead to negotiation. Warner won't get much from this kind of advertising but they should get something. Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central blog: http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re #6 Jeb
That is sad that the record company of the Stones sued for that. Doesn't matter if it was one tiny tune, the Verve obviously did a better job with it.
Gawd dang record company.
The Stones themselves needed absolutely none of that money as they were big enough. Bastards.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re:
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: MAFIAA Theme Song
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Re: Definitely Support Warner (with comment)
"Warner did the right thing"? Sorry to disagree.
Warner made an empty threat that a first year law student could have knocked out of the park.
Imeem folded up and gave away part of their business for no reason whatsoever. If they wanted to give away a piece of their action over this, they should have given it to a lawyer for present and future services.
That would have been the end of it, and maybe threats like it in the future, as well.
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
putatching
(reply to this comment) (link to this comment)
Add Your Comment