Now That It's Getting A Cut, Warner Says Imeem's Not So Bad

from the protection-money dept

A service called Imeem launched a little while back, and it allowed users to build playlists of music, videos and photos and share them with their friends. Despite the fact that it didn't offer any way to download copyrighted music, Warner Music sued Imeem, saying it was making money on "the illegal use of free music." How quickly things change: Warner has now dropped the lawsuit and licensed its catalog to Imeem, in exchange for a cut of its ad sales. Paidcontent says the deal is part of a trend of media companies showing a willingness to cut deals with these sorts of companies, "having decided its better to bring in revenue" than fight in court. But looked at another way, Warner is charging Imeem for the privilege of promoting its music. It paid its lawyers to threaten the company with a lawsuit and hammer out this licensing/revenue share deal, when instead, it could have simply let Imeem be and embraced the promotional value of its own content. It's pretty unlikely that Imeem will deliver significant revenues to Warner; changing how it perceives its own content and evolving its business model seems the wiser long-term bet.
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Filed Under: music, photos, video
Companies: imeem, warner


Reader Comments

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  1. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2007 @ 6:39am

    "the illegal use of free music."


    wtf... you can't even talk about what you listen too???

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Overcast, 13 Jul 2007 @ 7:04am

    Yeah, I guess not.

    Oh well, I will be a good little pleb.. I won't EVER use file sharing or online playlists.

    Eventually, once the Media industry find out how useful they really are - people will be too reluctant to even use it anymore.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 13 Jul 2007 @ 8:05am

    MAFIAA Theme Song

    Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.
    "I'll take you down the only road I've ever been down."
    Oh wait, did I just infringe on their copyrights or licenses or some similar carp by quoting a line from the song? They would probably claim so. Or at least their lawyers would.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    William, 13 Jul 2007 @ 8:30am

    Free money

    No son were a corporation we're not interested in free money.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    nipseyrussell, 13 Jul 2007 @ 8:48am

    things like this and the zune deal are very bad news as they set the precedent that we need to pay for things that we really should not. ("we" being either companies or consumers)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Jeb, 13 Jul 2007 @ 8:51am

    Re: MAFIAA Theme Song

    Funny choice of a theme song. You should read the part about the Rolling Stones here Wiki Verve

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2007 @ 9:14am

    And I'm sure that Warner Music will turn right around and pass the cash on to their artists.

    When will the artists stand up and demand this revenue?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. identicon
    Marc Cohen, 13 Jul 2007 @ 9:35am

    Definitely Support Warner

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Marc Cohen, 13 Jul 2007 @ 9:37am

    Definitely Support Warner (with comment)

    Sorry for above post error. Warner did the right thing. Sometimes filing suit is a way to lead to negotiation. Warner won't get much from this kind of advertising but they should get something. Check out the Ad-Supported Music Central blog: http://ad-supported-music.blogspot.com/

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Killer_Tofu (profile), 13 Jul 2007 @ 9:48am

    Re #6 Jeb

    That is sad that the record company of the Stones sued for that. Doesn't matter if it was one tiny tune, the Verve obviously did a better job with it.
    Gawd dang record company.
    The Stones themselves needed absolutely none of that money as they were big enough. Bastards.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. identicon
    Charles Griswold, 13 Jul 2007 @ 2:08pm

    Re:

    wtf... you can't even talk about what you listen too???
    The first rule of Playlists is - you do not talk about Playlists.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    The MAFIAA, 13 Jul 2007 @ 2:11pm

    Re: MAFIAA Theme Song

    Oh wait, did I just infringe on their copyrights or licenses or some similar carp by quoting a line from the song?
    Yeah, ya did. Now give us our cut or Guido here breaks yer knees.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 13 Jul 2007 @ 4:59pm

    Re: Definitely Support Warner (with comment)

    "Warner did the right thing"? Sorry to disagree.

    Warner made an empty threat that a first year law student could have knocked out of the park.

    Imeem folded up and gave away part of their business for no reason whatsoever. If they wanted to give away a piece of their action over this, they should have given it to a lawyer for present and future services.

    That would have been the end of it, and maybe threats like it in the future, as well.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    upok katindig, 15 Sep 2008 @ 7:36pm

    putatching

    link to this | view in thread ]


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