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Posted by Christopher Campbell on 12/08/06 18:57
On Wed, 6 Dec 2006 18:12:03 -0800, PTravel wrote
(in article <4tpbjoF155mcaU1@mid.individual.net>):
>
> My personal opinion is that the music publishers are trying to frame _new_
> law that protects an obsolete business model. It's not the law that's bad,
> but the distribution mechanism selected by the record companies. One of my
> clients is a very well-known computer game developer. They devised a
> business model that was essentially piracy proof -- they benefited even when
> their games were knocked-off. Not surprisingly, they were (and are) very
> successful, and a number of other game developers have emulated them.
I think the law is very well settled and has been for decades. There is no
"new" law here.
Neither do I think the labels are trying to protect an obsolete business
model. Universal is the largest of these companies, one of the most
aggressive about protecting their copyrights, but also one of the most
innovative. All of their music will be available for free download on their
own site, for example -- all the revenues come from advertising on the site.
I do not think, though, that Universal will succeed in persuading Apple to
give them a royalty on every iPod sold, despite their success in winning such
a contract with Microsoft's Zune. Zune needed Universal's support to get a
toehold in the marketplace. After all, latest sales figures placed Zune 54th
place in sales --- ranking below turntables! The iPod, OTOH, has enormous
market share. If Universal does not want to become completely irrelevant (and
the label companies are in serious danger of becoming exactly that), then
they are going to have to do things Apple's way, not the other way around.
Even the Beatles have finally seen the light. Who knows, maybe even Garth
Brooks will eventually come around. :-) If Universal wants a piece of every
iPod, they will be fighting against a very strong trend. But Spiralfrog is a
good first step. It will be interesting to see if Apple can continue to
charge 99¢ per tune if Spiralfrog is giving music away for free.
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