Fat Lady Sings For MP3.com
from the bye-bye dept
MP3.com, one of the original online music sites, that nearly got sued out of existence until they were cheap enough for Universal music to buy, looks like it won't be around much longer. Vivendi, the distressed owner of Universal, has shut down the European offering of MP3.com and is looking to sell the US operations. The story of MP3.com is yet another example of the music industry figuring out the best way to kill a good thing. They were one of the first companies to come up with the idea that you could buy a CD online and immediately get the MP3s while waiting for the actual CD to be delivered. Of course, the RIAA freaked out about this sort of service, and sued them (and eventually won), saying this service was a violation of copyrights - even though it was only for people who could prove they actually owned the CD in question. Then, once Universal bought them, they did very little with the assets, which could have helped them move into the digital world.
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iTunes Music Store
Wouldn't that make them a monopoly then? :-)
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Re: iTunes Music Store
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So Sad
Well, there's still IUMA. Sadly, no other web-based music service allows artists to sell one-off CD's and still get paid.
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No Subject Given
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