Virgin France To Warner Music: Your Exclusive Smelt Of Elderberries
from the and-your-madonna-is-a-hamster dept
Last year we wondered about record labels doing silly exclusive deals to release songs by artists such as Madonna and Robbie Williams only on mobile phones. First, it's silly to do any kind of "exclusive" launch on music that you want spread widely. Second, it's not very smart to limit a new song to just one way of listening to it (on mobile phones). Third, it's not as if people are really going to sign up with one mobile operator over another just to get the new Madonna song a week earlier. Finally, as the post showed, Warner Music apparently gave the "exclusive" content to multiple mobile operators -- meaning it wasn't so exclusive. It appears that Virgin France took a different approach to the issue. They decided that if Warner was going to make the content exclusive, they were simply going to rip a copy themselves and sell it online. It's a pretty audacious move for a music reseller. It's unclear from the article if Virgin was actually paying Warner royalties for each song sold. That would make this a lot more interesting, and would cut against Warner's argument that this was outright piracy. However, perhaps Virgin recognized that whatever fine they got (in this case: about $750,000) would be worth it in exchange for the publicity and being able to offer a song that others wouldn't touch. Still, it does show just how silly the idea of "exclusive" content is these days. No content is an exclusive once it's been released.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
Lovin the reference
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Virgin Mobile: Well, I'll ask them, but I don't think they will be very keen. Uh, we've already ripped it, you see.
Warner Music: What?
Warner Music Lackey: He said they've already ripped it!
Warner Music: Are you sure he's ripped it?
Virgin Mobile: Oh yes, it's very nice!
Warner Music: Call the old lawyer from Scene 21!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
it's like you've said...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Fight on, Sir Richard! Fight on my loyal knight!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Talk about farting
ha! Go Virgin!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
-sigh-
That's my two cents.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]