Removing Songs From iTunes A Great Way To Help Cover Bands
from the as-for-yourself?-not-so-clear... dept
A few weeks ago, we noted that some record labels were choosing to wait until a song had become popular to remove it from iTunes on the highly questionable theory that this would encourage fans to buy the full CD instead of just buying a single track. This seems quite unlikely (more likely is that people will simply go pirate the one track). However, the LA Times notes that in the case of the band the was discussed in the initial article, the removal of the official song has proven a boost to cover bands that have stepped in to fill the void. Even if the tracks aren't that good, a lot more people are buying them since they can't find the original. That's probably not what the record label intended when it pulled the songs from iTunes, but if there's one thing the recording industry has shown over and over again for years is that it has trouble figuring out how the market will react to its more braindead moves.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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Filed Under: cover bands, itunes, music
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no problem
....right?
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Re: no problem
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I already patented that business model... you owe me $100
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Re: no problem
US Law provides for compulsory licensing, whereby anyone is free to record a cover version of any song once it is released. The writers of the song would receive royalties (approx 9 cents per song) for each copy sold. If the original band were not themselves the writers of the song they would receive nothing.
There is no real way of rpeventing cover bands from recording the song and selling it. Copyright protection for music is far different than say patent protection or even literary copyright.
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I just find other hassle-free (or less hassle anyway) places to spend cash.
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eMusic
I wonder if iTunes users use the same complaints, since the prices there are several times higher than eMusic's? If so, they may believe they're being ripped off and refuse to buy from iTunes, but that won't necessarily translate to more sales elsewhere - they may simply return to P2P. Yay for idiotic music industry practices once again...
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it's a scientific fact!
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that;s how it reads to me, anyways.
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I wasn't saying it was a big trend, just pointing out what happened, and how it helped cover bands. I think, given the facts of the situation that it's also reasonable to assume that something similar would happen in other instances as well.
A few months ago there was another article talking about how some cover bands are having tremendous success on iTunes by doing covers of all the popular tunes that bands refuse to sell on iTunes. So I think it's perfectly reasonable to suggest that's what would happen.
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Re:
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The Same Can Be Said For YouTube
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Hot guitar solos
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