07-29-2003, 03:00 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Son of Napster: One Possible Future for a Music Business That Must Inevitably Change
"When I mentioned in last week's column that I would this week be writing about a legal way to do a successful music downloading business -- a business that would threaten the Recording Industry Association of America and its hegemony -- dozens of readers wrote to me trying to predict what I would write. Some readers came at the problem from a purely technical perspective, ignoring the fact that the real issues here aren't technical but legal. Some readers took a legal approach, but they tended to ignore the business model. Some were looking solely for the business model. Interestingly, nobody even came close to my idea, which makes me either a total loon or a diabolical genius. Truth be told, I'm probably more of a diabolical loon."
Before making a single comment, please go read the article. His idea is so simple, yet powerful, that it made me laugh out loud when I realized where he was going with it. It's a fascinating idea, although it seems more focused on getting older music into a shared scenario, rather than cultivating new music. One thing that people forget is the food chain involved with finding, creating, and marketing great music. One person with a guitar and a microphone hooked up to their computer does not a rock star make. It's technically possible for anyone with an Internet connection to be a billion-dollar music artist, but the reality is much different than that. Still, this idea that Robert has is an exciting one. I bet the RIAA is already moving to stop it from becoming a reality...
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07-29-2003, 03:05 AM
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Editor Emeritus
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 15,171
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Brilliant! Simply brilliant! :lol:
And no way in hell will it happen. :cry:
--janak
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07-29-2003, 03:09 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,264
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I guess I am missing something, although it was a quick read. If they buy just one copy of every CD, wouldn't that mean only one person could use it at a time to remain legal. In a way this is just an electronic version of a used CD store.
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07-29-2003, 03:19 AM
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Executive Editor
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 29,160
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Goldkey
I guess I am missing something, although it was a quick read. If they buy just one copy of every CD, wouldn't that mean only one person could use it at a time to remain legal. In a way this is just an electronic version of a used CD store.
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No, because we're ALL part owners in EVERY CD - and from what I understand, the law says that if you own a CD, you can make backup/time-shifted copies of that CD.
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07-29-2003, 03:24 AM
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Mystic
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 1,639
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I'd invest in it just to piss off those ar$eholes in the record companies.
__________________
Cheers!
David
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07-29-2003, 03:27 AM
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Pontificator
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,264
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Jason Dunn
No, because we're ALL part owners in EVERY CD - and from what I understand, the law says that if you own a CD, you can make backup/time-shifted copies of that CD.
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Let me play a little devils advocate before I go to sleep. Given I am a part owner of a CD, then I have a right to make an use a backup copy. So, if I went out an bought one share of stock of each of the publicly traded record companies, I should legally be entitled to make copies of everything in each of their catalogs since I am a part owner of the copyright to every CD.
There is something missing in this scheme, maybe I will be able to think of it after a good nights sleep. :sleeping:
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07-29-2003, 03:41 AM
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Neophyte
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 2
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cool idea
i bet this would work for e-books too :devilboy:
jim from austin
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07-29-2003, 04:06 AM
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Sage
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 717
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Can someone please forward this to Bill, $2mill is about 40 minutes of work for him these days isn't it? I think this is absolutely brilliant and it should be done off the cost of Africa on some remote island or somewhere in the deep siberian fortest where RIAA has no infulence. WOW!!
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07-29-2003, 04:14 AM
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Pupil
Join Date: Oct 2002
Posts: 30
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I read this last week, and I thought it was a bad idea all around.
The future of eveything is free and decentrilized. This is neither.
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07-29-2003, 04:18 AM
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Intellectual
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 139
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What he seems to be missing is that just because a company is "public" does not mean the public has rights to the assets of that company. If you own Disney stock, can you claim the right to download a copy of Toy Story? No.
I guess what I find more concerning is that people would go through so much trouble to get out of buying copyrighted works that for all intents and purposes, are relatively fairly priced. People complain today that there isn't enough variety in music, and the RIAA is gouging them. So what happens when 60 million people can pay $20 for a lifetime "free pass" to every CD made? You'll get even less choice and the prices for those CD's will climb ten fold.
There is also the fact that fair use does not in itself mean that if ten people own a CD, that ten people have the right to the entire CD simultaneously. Mathematically, each has the right to one tenth of the CD. With the scheme described in this article, if you were one of the 60 million, you would be entitled to one sixty-millionth of the collection at any one time. If the CD collection is one million and each CD is about 60 minutes, that would make your fair share about one minute long. Not enough for even one song.
Fair use allows for duplication for backup and time/space shifting, not distribution to "co-owners" in full.
I think if people spent half the time trying to fix the system that they do trying to defraud it, we would all be better off in the end.
Of course I'm not a lawyer nor very smart in general, so your mileage may vary.
__________________
Wes SalmonSoftware Test EngineerMicrosoft Mobile and Embedded Devices
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