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Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Court says no to digital music resales

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[Looking for the latest edition of the Guide's LIVE MUSIC EVENTS? You may need to open the tab for MARCH in the sidebar at left in this site's "Full Web Edition" option. A new edition is coming soon.]
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At first, it looked like you would be able to re-sell those song and album downloads and other digital media you've bought, the same as you can sell your old LPs and used CDs. At least one major launch, a company named Redigi, was founded as a broker and clearing house.

But a court has said no and banned Redigi from doing business. Reporter Dan Seitz has a piece today in Uproxx describing what happened.

Seitz summarizes, "On the one side, gigantic corporations are arguing that even though you own a file that acts like a physical copy, all it’s sold you is the loosest software license in human history. On the other side, consumer advocates and retailers are arguing that digital media are products, bought and sold, and should be treated as such."

His piece concludes, "The courts have gone with the gigantic corporations on this one. For now, anyway."

You can read his full story at:

http://www.uproxx.com/technology/2013/04/used-digital-media-sees-a-setback-redigi-shut-down-by-courts/

We figure people will do what they're inclined to do with what they've purchased, and this action by the court will achieve only two things:

1)   Big web dealers in digital resale will be kept out of the marketplace, and it will be rampant and underground.

2)   Artists, music publishers, and labels won't be able to collect resale royalties because the court has driven the whole thing underground.

If, as we suspect, it's all about the paranoia and need for control by Big Music, we are reminded of an old fable: the monkey reaches in, through the neck of the jar, to grab the egg inside. Except that his hand, grasping the egg, is too big to fit back out. He never gets the egg without breaking it because he is unwilling to ask someone else to catch the egg when he withdraws his greedy hand and turns the jar upside down.

As the musical and filmmaking duo BRIGHT BLUE GORILLA says, "Share your bananas."
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The Acoustic Americana Music Guide's LIVE MUSIC EVENTS section, published last Friday, covers events into this week (and way beyond), with info on festivals, concerts, club gigs, performance-interview sessions you can attend, coffee house music, club gigs, house concerts, showcases, open mics, workshops for artists, and plenty more. It's available just below, or in the sidebar at left, depending on where you're reading this...
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Contents copyright (c) 2013, Lawrence Wines and Tied to the Tracks. All rights reserved.

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More below, and even more soon, as always.
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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

IMHO, u r spot on. Doesn't matter who is dumber, courts or big music. In the end it's the artist gets screwed (again!)

Anonymous said...

I went to the link you listed for the news in Uproxx, and decided you have more and better stuff here. You get into what it MEANS, and that is useful!