Eminem Loses Lawsuit Against Universal Music: Jury Says Digital Music Sales Are Like CD Sales
from the so-much-for-that-plan dept
A few years back, a few bands, including Cheap Trick and the Allman Brothers sued their record labels claiming their cut of iTunes sales wasn't right. It was basically a contractual suit. Since there are a million and one different licenses to deal with, the record labels were treating digital sales the same way they treated CD sales -- of which the artists get a tiny tiny percentage. However, these bands noted that it seemed like digital sales was much more similar to a deal where they were licensing their music for use in another product -- such as a commercial or a movie. In those deals, the bands get a much bigger cut. A little while later, Eminem filed a similar lawsuit -- though somehow (great lawyers there...) thought that it was all Apple's fault and sued Apple. It looks like that got sorted out eventually, and Eminem refocused the lawsuit on Universal Music. And... didn't get very far. Last week a jury found that Universal Music was right: a digital sale is just like a physical sale, and thus the significantly lower royalty rate applies. You can bet pretty much every major record label just breathed a huge sigh of relief (even though an appeal is likely), because a ruling in the other direction would take away a hefty chunk of margin from their digital sales.![Hide This Hide this](https://ii.techdirt.com/s/t/i/topclose.png)
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Filed Under: digital sales, eminem, royalties
Companies: universal music
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By that logic...
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Re: By that logic...
The hell it is!
When someone shoplifts an item, it's GONE. No one else can get the item.
When someone COPIES an item, the original is still there for OTHERS to copy.
Understand this.
Whether or not you agree about music sharing, copying music is not stealing.
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Re: Re: By that logic...
It seems that the record companies want it BOTH ways.
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Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
Sometimes skimming isn't the best thing to do. ;)
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Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
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Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
No, they won't be, because the moment you open them, you bought them.
By the way, do CD stores still exist? With a shrinking market, I would say those still in business are probably looking at extinction.
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Re: Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
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Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
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Re: Re: Re: By that logic...
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A matter of time?
Sooner or later people are going to recognize that the (ever diminishing)value labels add to the artist's work isn't worth the price.
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Re: A matter of time?
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Re: Re: A matter of time?
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Re:
9% Creators
46% Record Company
45% Retailers
Digital:
8% Creators
68% Record Company
15% Digital Service Provider
9% Credit Card Processing
Another article, originally cited from the book "Confessions of A Record Producer" has this breakdown for Physical CD sales:
$0.17 Musicians? unions
$0.80 Packaging/manufacturing
$0.82 Publishing royalties
$0.80 Retail profit
$0.90 Distribution
$1.60 Artists royalties
$1.70 Label profit
$2.40 Marketing/promotion
$2.91 Label overhead
$3.89 Retail overhead
Sigh. WalMart gets paid more than the artist does in royalties.
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Also if my digital media is not licensed why does it have a license agreement?
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UM once again protecting artists from pirates?
Oh, and btw: happy 30th anniversary, CD!
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Re: UM once again protecting artists from pirates?
Contrived commercial acts will always be around for record execs to exploit for the enjoyment of teenagers. "Real bands" should combine their efforts to overcome the radio-tv monopoly of the entrenched industry.
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Believe it or not a new one just opened up not too far from me - but they are selling other stuff, like T-Shirts, Posters, and such - they shouldn't have any issues staying in business with as much as my daughter begs me to buy more there.
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When will the labels stop trying to saw off the branch it is sitting on?
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RE: Eminem Loses Lawsuit
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Music Lawsuits.
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Music Lawsuits
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