CBS Resurrects CBS Music Because Starting And Running Your Own Label Is Cheaper Than Licensing Music
from the CSI-crime-lab-techs-need-cheaper-rock-and-roll dept
The film and TV music license negotiation process is a painfully convoluted & expensive one, to the point where legal infighting has resulted in problems such as the DVDs of classic television series being released with none of the music that made the original series popular. In an effort to get around this process, CBS has decided to re-animate the corpse of their old CBS Music label, which they sold to Sony back in 1988 for a cool $2 billion. The label, which was originally home to such greats as Frank Sinatra and Bob Dylan, will be reincarnated as primarily a digital only enterprise. While they will offer some physical media through other labels and distributors, the move is aimed at farming in-house music in order to reduce licensing fees for music used in CBS programs like CSI. As part of the move, they've struck a deal with Apple to sell the music via iTunes, and will also offer music on the CBS website (albeit likely loaded with DRM). The deal should save CBS a significant amount of cash, a large number of headaches, and create a more efficient internal promotional engine -- but it doesn't say much for the existing music licensing system when the only way to solve a logjam is to create an entirely new company and keep everything in-house.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.
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The great wheel
Plus they can sell CBS MkII to Sony again in 10 years ! If Sony still exist.
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The events in this article seem like they belong more on a Conan O`Brien "In the Year 2000" skit than they do actualy being acted out in the real world. However, considering all these decisions are being made by the most elite 2% of the population why would it be any different. They only know how to make money, and despite their buisness tactics, they're damn good at it.
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music licensing
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Wouldn't that be nice. Might be too much to ask for though.
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Greedy
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Your point misses the point
"-- but it doesn't say much for the existing music licensing system when the only way to solve a logjam is to create an entirely new company and keep everything in-house."
All I can say is, Karl, you're a dumbf***.
This is the same thing that myriads of garage bands are doing nowadays by skipping the music labels and going straight to the net. CBS here is acting not as a transmission medium, but as a content provider, and protecting its own interests.
The difference is that unlike a garage band, CBS is already well-known and doesn't have to go back and pay dues it already paid in order to become a household name. Oh yeah, and it has that transmission medium to advertise its content.
Oh yeah, and Karl, you're a dumbf***.
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Chris, you nailed it
Yep. That's it. The source of my alternately frustrated/amused/amazed view of Just What The Hell Is Going On. It's the shrinking group of Haves!! Like a genetic pool, their ever-decreasing population is already starting to show up as monkey-assed-crazy. I attribute the acceleration of this effect to that nagging ultra-rich vulnerability: being able to afford all of the vice you could ever imagine, and then some if you have a decent-sized entourage. This is where reclusive types compensate for their inherent wackiness.
So the world is in trouble, social *and* environmental, and it's being run (and broadcast) by a smaller number of people than usual, who are making even more obvious mistakes than, oh, the Gettys in the Seventies.
But hey, they're making money, and the shareholders like that. Hey, Milton Friedman! I hope you're accurate, e.g., as long as the corporations are loyal to their shareholders, nothing can go wrong, right? Mr. Friedman? Hello? ... oh, that's right, you're dead. Never mind. See you soon.
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"deal with iTunes"
Could you please go into some detail on what you mean by "a deal with iTunes"?
Last time I checked, pretty much anyone can go straight to iTunes and get their music distributed. It worked for several bands I'm in.
I don't see how there's much room for Apple to negotiate as they're basically taking a hit on every song sold.
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"they've struck a deal with Apple to sell the music via iTunes, and will also offer music on the CBS website (albeit likely loaded with DRM)."
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