D.C. Libraries Offering Free, DRM-Free MP3 Downloads From Sony Music

from the well,-look-at-that dept

Mon, Dec 5th 2011 5:38am — Mike Masnick

The legacy entertainment industry has worked so hard to claim that getting any of their works for "free" must be illegal. Remember, the public service announcement created by NBC Universal and used by both the city government of NY and the federal government as an "anti-piracy" advertisement states that "there's no such thing as free" content. EMI, in its fight with MP3tunes, similarly tried to claim that it never, ever, released free music online -- a point easily proven to be false. So it's interesting to see -- as a whole bunch of folks have sent in -- that the DC libraries recently announced that library card holders can download free music from the library website from Sony Music. The library website says that it comes from "the entire Sony Music and IODA catalogs." You only get to download three songs per week, but they appear to be DRM-free mp3s. This is why it gets more and more difficult to take the big labels and the big studios seriously when they go on and on about how bad "free" is. They're using it themselves...

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Filed Under: dc, free, library, mp3s
Companies: sony music

30 Comments

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Dr. EVil, 5 Dec 2011 @ 5:47am

iz it free?
my guess, the library pays some sort of license fee to Sony. So its paid for by the taxpayer but seems to be free to the user. This is still a much better model than what existed before..bravo DC...
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Nate (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 5:52am

It's not free!
That's not free music. It's a service that the DC Public Library is buying from Library Ideas LLC.

In effect, the DCPL bought a volume license for the songs. Once they get X number of downloads the DCPL will either have to buy more licenses or turn off the tap.
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arcan (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 5:52am

The record labels are being hypocrites? what kind of vile trickery is this black magic?
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Planespotter (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 6:09am

Not quite what it seems? Free to the library card holder but not to the tax payer (one and the same?)? I'd be interested to hear how much it costs DCPL per track.
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The Infamous Joe (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 6:29am

Tricky
So, if I then upload the free song to tpb, have I committed copyright infringement? Am I lost potential sale?
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AJ (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:08am

Re: Tricky
"Am I lost potential sale?"

Depends on who's math you use. If you use "normal" math, your just some dude who would have probably never purchased the song in the first place, and are contributing to others who would have probably never have spent any money either. So not really a lost sale, more of a missed opertunity....

If you use the AA's math. You have just single-handedly cause the collapse of civilization as we know it. Because of you, a kitten has just died, and a baby seal was clubbed. Your upload has been downloaded by at least a million people, and at $150,000 a pop.. that's.... that's... well its a fucking lot OK! Were going to wrap you up in the legal system for 20 years, take every penny you fucking have, and burn your picture at PRO-IP rallies for decades... friggin freeloading pirate!

/sarc
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:32am

Re:
In that case you be glad to know that no music is free nowhere, because every time you go shopping, exercise in a gym, go eat in a restaurant you pay for the music and it accrues to thousands of dollars in a lifetime, so you can probably say that all your pirate music was already paid in advance.
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Friggin Pirate, 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:33am

Re: Re: Tricky
First you need to locate me.
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Overcast (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:36am

Remember, the public service announcement created by NBC Universal and used by both the city government of NY and the federal government as an "anti-piracy" advertisement states that "there's no such thing as free" content.

Radio.
Broadcast TV.
Libraries.

For consumers - they are free. How are we expected to have decent digital media concepts with this group of idiots trying to run the show?

Problem isn't the digital media - it's the above idiots making moronic comments like the above in italics.
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out_of_the_blue, 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:39am

"three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
It's mere advertising loss leader, Mike. You should stop characterizing EVERY bit of ancient advertising practice as validation for your "give away and pray" notions.

Unusually, in this case you have the facts right. Sony also "gives" away videos on Youtube. I had cause to look up a certain "artist", and all of its videos began with a Sony copyright notice. So big deal.

SONY can give away SONY products as much as they please, MIke. (And giant SONY can bear the expense!) DOES NOT MEAN that you pirates can legally "help" them by distributing their files even if for "free".
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:45am

I think this may actually be tied to the original, rootkit imbroglio of a few years back? not sure
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gorehound (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:49am

To me it won't matter as I will have nothing to do with Big Labels/RIAA and have not done so for many years.Even well before the Internet was a WWW I was already not buying into or caring about any Artists who had "sold out" to the Corporate Entities.I became a Punk rocker in 1976 and never looked back.
I really would rather listen to and purchase DIY/Obscure Bands Music than go near any sell-out.
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The eejit (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 7:57am

Re: "three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
Don't bother replying, just report and move on. If there was any more logic-fail in this one, the paradox crumple zones would fold into a counterlogical Einstein-Rosen bridge.
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Benjamin C. Wade, 5 Dec 2011 @ 8:11am

Re: Re: Tricky
You forgot that it supported child pornographers and Al Queda.
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Andrew (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 9:21am

Re: "three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
"give away and pray"

I've lost count how many times Mike says this is not what he suggests. But keep on going OOTB. Maybe one day you'll quote him correctly and stop deionizing everyone on the site.

On a side note you seem not to understand how Youtube works do ya?
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Berenerd (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 9:49am

Re: Re: Re: Tricky
and kicked puppies in the laps of invalid soldiers
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Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 10:07am

Re: Re: "three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
"If there was any more logic-fail in this one, the paradox crumple zones would fold into a counterlogical Einstein-Rosen bridge."

And create exotic particles on the other side threatening to destroy an entire universe?
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Rich Fiscus (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 10:31am

Free? I think not.
Actually, this doesn't appear to be a true giveaway, at least not by Sony. The service is provided by a company called Library Ideas, and according to at least one librarian who has dealt with them, they aren't really offering much of a deal at all, and appear to be at least a little on the slimy side.

http://librarianinblack.net/librarianinblack/2011/04/just-say-no-to-freegal.html

Apparen tly the library pays at least $1 per download on average, and the company has horrible customer service.
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Chris in Utah (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 10:35am

Re: Re: Re: Tricky
Woops we are talkin Sony, they already released your profile to the public.
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Rikuo (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 11:05am

Re: "three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
Yeah, that's right. Every time I watched a Sony video on Youtube, I took it off their channel and Sony had to spend precious time and bandwidth putting it back up for the next person.
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DannyB (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 11:22am

The DC Library is one of those Rogue web sites
Enablers and Facilitators of piracy.

Piracy is when you get music for free.

So this must be piracy? Isn't it?
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The eejit (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 12:06pm

Re: Re: Re: "three songs per week"! Holy cow! Can Sony stand the expense?
Not yet, but Donnie might drop a jet engine on you.
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gort-o-matic (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 12:07pm

Library Membership is Limited -- Drat!
The DC Public Library is not permitted to issue electronic download only cards to those outside our service area (as listed above--D.C., Maryland and Virginia). If you live outside these areas, you may apply for a regular library card by visiting the Martin Luther King Library in person. The cost is $20, and the card is good for one year.

Now I'll have to see if I can get a similar deal from my local library.
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Joe Perry (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 12:49pm

Re: Re:
yes, but a corporation deciding to charge based on total operating costs, including the price of the music they play, is still giving you the choice of shopping there. if it's a government tax you are paying for music you aren't hearing unless you go to the library and download three songs. everyone who doesn't is still paying anyway.

it's sort of how the record industry views people not buying as losses. well, this is their solution. sell it to the government, and through taxes everyone buys, whether they like it or not.

and besides, a lot of stores just use the radio, which is public and free, to cut costs. at least, they do around where I live.
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heyidiot (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 1:10pm

Re: It's not free!
Yes, and this is to avoid the simple purchase of music CDs, which patrons then can check-out, rip, and check back in. Hopefully all the same day.

Do what I do: take your notebook to the library, and rip the CDs without even checking them out.

Hmmm... I wonder: is there a law against that?
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RonKaminsky (profile), 5 Dec 2011 @ 1:18pm

Not legal in US or UK
> a lot of stores just use the radio, which is public and free

Nope, AFAIK it's only free for non-commercial use, if you are a store/bar/restaurant/waiting room/... you have to pay the collection agencies (ASCAP/BMI in the US).

There has even been a case where the UK collection agency wanted money for one of a supermarket's employees singing in public while working.
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Christopher Bingham, 6 Dec 2011 @ 5:53am

Sony calls it Freegal (owned by Library Ideas, who I would guess are owned by Sony) and depending on the contract, they get $1.29 per song from the library. Some libraries love it, some hate it. It's a lot of money.
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Joe Perry (profile), 6 Dec 2011 @ 2:17pm

Re: Not legal in US or UK
interesting, I still stand by my point, but that is something I did not know.
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Rich Fiscus (profile), 6 Dec 2011 @ 9:15pm

Re:
Actually they don't appear to be owned by Sony at all. Sony just happens to be the only label they have a deal to distribute songs from.
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