Wait, is this the same Emily Richards that Michael Robertson personally promoted as a singer on MP3.com ten years ago? She was a real favorite of his, if I recall.
If he turned on her, I'm amazed EMI even had to pay her a dime to get her to change her testimony. Hell hath no fury, man...
Actually, I think I made a about $900 off MP3.com. Built myself a very nice little PC with that cash, too.
I have no sympathy for Mr. Robertson, either. He could have done something really great with MP3.com, but instead, he saw zero value in the indie music catalog he amassed and decided to make himself a target for the RIAA, just to be a glory hound. He's the bastard that brought down Camelot, IMHO, and he needs to go.
Here's the one arena where cable and satellite TV still win big -- live sports. There are a TON of sports fans out there who don't want and/or can't afford to go to a sports bar for every single game, and they want their ESPN.
Yes, the combination of Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, video podcasts and OTA DTV would be enough for most people, but not for me. I'm a huge NFL fan. I watch a lot of college basketball, especially here in the ACC. I follow the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and I think I might like to watch those Real Madrid v. Barcelona battles this year, too, or the occasional Serie A or CONCACAF battle. Where's the Netflix-like alternative for me and all those others like me?
Yes, the baseball fans can get live games on their Roku player. Can college football fans get that? What about NBA and NHL fans? ESPN 360 doesn't work with my ISP, and the ISP it *does* work with here can't give me reliable service.
Yes, tons of people who aren't sports fans are cutting cable and dumping the dish. Good for them. This ignores the fact that there's still a huge market here that remains untapped. So what's the solution for us sports fans?
"Make Congress feel the pain?" Not enough. The only way to change anything is to STOP BUYING WHAT THE RIAA AND MPAA ARE SELLING YOU. Support independent artists who make music, film and video that interest you instead.
After all, if we stop giving money to the MPAA, they stop being able to pay lawyers, and these things start changing. Right?
Do you think Twitter would be as big as it is right now if it weren't for hundreds of software developers "riding their coat tails" to make Twitter more useful? Would the iPhone be as useful with no one but Apple designing the apps to make it so?
Here in the 21st century, you have to let 3rd-party developers into your ecosystem to make your product more useful to the people. As long as the RIAA continues to lock these developers out by suing them and squeezing every last dime out of them, they will lose in the eyes of the public. Period.
I have a Treo 755p on Verizon. It's a Swiss army gadget -- it does everything I want it to do, but it doesn't do anything particularly well.
But there's one thing it will do that the Pre won't do out of the gate -- let me use SlingPlayer. I can't get away from the office to watch UEFA Champions League matches or 1st-weekend NCAA Tournament games, so SlingPlayer is a must-have for me.
Granted, I'm also torn by the fact that I would have to switch carriers, which is a pain and will require me to pay extra to cancel my contract. Plus, Verizon is saying they'll have the Pre in January, by which time my New Every 2 deal kicks in. And, y'know, I have to make sure I still have a job come October 1, and I probably shouldn't be blowing cash on new gadgets between now and then...
But mostly it's for SlingPlayer. Even though I suspect Brazil will stomp all over the USA in the Confederations Cup in two weeks, I still want to see it happen.
The point isn't to stop paying for music altogether. The point is to spend your music dollars on music NOT released by RIAA labels. Seek out the indies. Seek out the podcasts that play good new indie music, and buy a few songs they play that you like. That's how we create a new music business -- by supporting non-RIAA alternatives.
After all, if all you do is download major label music, you're just reaffirming the importance of the major labels. That's not how we get rid of them.
I agree with you that a 66.6% price increase is no fun. However, if I ditch eMusic for Amazon, which is $0.89 per song on average, it's another 122.5% increase per song **on top of** that 66.6%.
Yes, I could buy two 15-song albums for $7.99 each, but even then, it's $0.53/song, which is still $0.13/song more than the new eMusic plans and doesn't offer quite the same flexibility -- unless I buy no music for a month, and then I don't get charged at all.
You could argue that it's still better to go with Amazon, since you're only paying for the music you want, not getting charged if you don't visit the site for a month, and giving more money to the artists who make that music. (Amazon pays $0.40 to $0.65 per song, depending on a few variables. iTunes pays 70% per song and per album.)
So it's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem at first glance. You might hate the price increase, but if you enjoy the eMusic experience more than Amazon or iTunes, you might decide to stick around anyway. I'm still deciding.
I'm a long-time eMusic subscriber who has done affiliate marketing for eMusic on my podcast (daveslounge.com) for the better part of three years, and I'm quite conflicted by this.
On the one hand, I'm not happy that eMusic is jacking up the prices at the same time that they're adding major label music, especially since I'm as anti-RIAA as anyone and view this as an obvious concession to Sony that offers no real benefit to eMusic's core customers -- especially all those customers I encouraged to sign-up.
On the other hand, the increase for me is only $0.16 a song (from $0.24 to $0.40), which ultimately is still a better deal than iTunes or Amazon, and I know well enough to avoid Sony's music. If you only download indie music from eMusic, only the indie music makers get paid.
That said, a few friends of mine are already using the #eMusicFAIL tag on Twitter and dropping the service, and I'm pondering doing the same. It's kind of a shame, though, because I encourage people to buy the music they hear on my podcast -- all non-RIAA artists/labels, of course -- and it's still cheaper per song to do that with eMusic than with anything else. Not sure what to do about this yet.
Wired doesn't have to go digging. Tunecore says it all in their FAQ:
-----
What rights am I granting to TuneCore?
As you'll see on our terms and conditions (honestly, read it, it's important), you grant TuneCore only these rights:
* You grant TuneCore the NON-exclusive right to deliver and allow the stores/services you chose to sell your music and/or music videos. In order for your music or music videos or art to appear on other digital music services, TuneCore must first get your permission.
* You grant TuneCore the right to collect and transfer to you all the money owed to you from the sale of your music and/or music videos in the stores/services you choose.
* You grant TuneCore the right to use the name(s), photographs and likenesses, artwork images, biographical and other information provided by you in connection with your music or music videos.
* You agree to the Schedule of Fees for our services.
* You agree to our Privacy Policy.
REMEMBER: TuneCore does not own your songs, your masters, your copyrights, or the rights to any art work or band photo or music videos you submit. You maintain all ownership and control of all your rights. Also remember, TuneCore gets no rights to manufacture CDs, vinyl, DVDs, tapes or anything else. These are your rights, not ours.
Aren't people dumping their TiVos in droves in favor of cable, satellite and fiber-TV DVRs right now? This looks like two dying brands teaming up to try and stave off irrelevance. I wish 'em luck, but I have my doubts that they'll get very far.
...and fear is destroying our economy. I've never seen people this afraid of anything. At some point, we have to come out of our shells and stop being so scared. Don't we?
On the post: EMI Back To Trying To Personally Bankrupt Michael Robertson
Emily Richards?
If he turned on her, I'm amazed EMI even had to pay her a dime to get her to change her testimony. Hell hath no fury, man...
On the post: EMI Back To Trying To Personally Bankrupt Michael Robertson
Re: I hope they DO bankrupt Michael Robertson
I have no sympathy for Mr. Robertson, either. He could have done something really great with MP3.com, but instead, he saw zero value in the indie music catalog he amassed and decided to make himself a target for the RIAA, just to be a glory hound. He's the bastard that brought down Camelot, IMHO, and he needs to go.
On the post: Forget Piracy Or Boxee... Could Netflix Take Down Cable?
That's great. What if you're a sports fan?
Yes, the combination of Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, video podcasts and OTA DTV would be enough for most people, but not for me. I'm a huge NFL fan. I watch a lot of college basketball, especially here in the ACC. I follow the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League, and I think I might like to watch those Real Madrid v. Barcelona battles this year, too, or the occasional Serie A or CONCACAF battle. Where's the Netflix-like alternative for me and all those others like me?
Yes, the baseball fans can get live games on their Roku player. Can college football fans get that? What about NBA and NHL fans? ESPN 360 doesn't work with my ISP, and the ISP it *does* work with here can't give me reliable service.
Yes, tons of people who aren't sports fans are cutting cable and dumping the dish. Good for them. This ignores the fact that there's still a huge market here that remains untapped. So what's the solution for us sports fans?
On the post: Label That Embraces BitTorrent Upset About Lawsuits Against Useful Services
Legaltorrents.com?
Plus, they don't need a distributor to get their music into online stores if they use TuneCore. That's available to them, too, right?
On the post: Premier League's Fear Of The Internet A Case Study In What Not To Do
Aussie Rules is better...
http://www.aussiesport.tv/
On the post: Premier League's Fear Of The Internet A Case Study In What Not To Do
Pitch Invasion
http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2009/08/12/the-premier-league-and-internet-streams/
On the post: Hollywood Kills More Innovation; Judge Overturns DVD Jukebox Ruling
Not enough.
After all, if we stop giving money to the MPAA, they stop being able to pay lawyers, and these things start changing. Right?
On the post: Godzilla Takes On Comcast Over Trademark
Raymond Burr smokes a pipe and says...
On the post: Is Apple Suggesting That The DMCA Prevents Terrorism?
I believe Bill Cosby said it best when he said...
On the post: EMI's CEO Admits Company 'Lost Touch' But Doesn't Seem To Know How To Fix It
Bullsh*t
Here in the 21st century, you have to let 3rd-party developers into your ecosystem to make your product more useful to the people. As long as the RIAA continues to lock these developers out by suing them and squeezing every last dime out of them, they will lose in the eyes of the public. Period.
On the post: If Everyone Likes The Palm Pre, Why So Much Hedging?
Waiting for SlingPlayer
But there's one thing it will do that the Pre won't do out of the gate -- let me use SlingPlayer. I can't get away from the office to watch UEFA Champions League matches or 1st-weekend NCAA Tournament games, so SlingPlayer is a must-have for me.
Granted, I'm also torn by the fact that I would have to switch carriers, which is a pain and will require me to pay extra to cancel my contract. Plus, Verizon is saying they'll have the Pre in January, by which time my New Every 2 deal kicks in. And, y'know, I have to make sure I still have a job come October 1, and I probably shouldn't be blowing cash on new gadgets between now and then...
But mostly it's for SlingPlayer. Even though I suspect Brazil will stomp all over the USA in the Confederations Cup in two weeks, I still want to see it happen.
On the post: Did No One At eMusic Think About PR Impact Of Raising Prices At The Same Time Sony Signed?
You're missing the point
After all, if all you do is download major label music, you're just reaffirming the importance of the major labels. That's not how we get rid of them.
On the post: Did No One At eMusic Think About PR Impact Of Raising Prices At The Same Time Sony Signed?
You can make the numbers say anything.
Yes, I could buy two 15-song albums for $7.99 each, but even then, it's $0.53/song, which is still $0.13/song more than the new eMusic plans and doesn't offer quite the same flexibility -- unless I buy no music for a month, and then I don't get charged at all.
You could argue that it's still better to go with Amazon, since you're only paying for the music you want, not getting charged if you don't visit the site for a month, and giving more money to the artists who make that music. (Amazon pays $0.40 to $0.65 per song, depending on a few variables. iTunes pays 70% per song and per album.)
So it's not as cut-and-dried as it might seem at first glance. You might hate the price increase, but if you enjoy the eMusic experience more than Amazon or iTunes, you might decide to stick around anyway. I'm still deciding.
On the post: Did No One At eMusic Think About PR Impact Of Raising Prices At The Same Time Sony Signed?
Price increase already chasing people away
I'm a long-time eMusic subscriber who has done affiliate marketing for eMusic on my podcast (daveslounge.com) for the better part of three years, and I'm quite conflicted by this.
On the one hand, I'm not happy that eMusic is jacking up the prices at the same time that they're adding major label music, especially since I'm as anti-RIAA as anyone and view this as an obvious concession to Sony that offers no real benefit to eMusic's core customers -- especially all those customers I encouraged to sign-up.
On the other hand, the increase for me is only $0.16 a song (from $0.24 to $0.40), which ultimately is still a better deal than iTunes or Amazon, and I know well enough to avoid Sony's music. If you only download indie music from eMusic, only the indie music makers get paid.
That said, a few friends of mine are already using the #eMusicFAIL tag on Twitter and dropping the service, and I'm pondering doing the same. It's kind of a shame, though, because I encourage people to buy the music they hear on my podcast -- all non-RIAA artists/labels, of course -- and it's still cheaper per song to do that with eMusic than with anything else. Not sure what to do about this yet.
On the post: TuneCore, Amazon Team Up To Make It Even Easier & Cheaper For Bands To Sell CDs
Read Tunecore's FAQ
-----
What rights am I granting to TuneCore?
As you'll see on our terms and conditions (honestly, read it, it's important), you grant TuneCore only these rights:
* You grant TuneCore the NON-exclusive right to deliver and allow the stores/services you chose to sell your music and/or music videos. In order for your music or music videos or art to appear on other digital music services, TuneCore must first get your permission.
* You grant TuneCore the right to collect and transfer to you all the money owed to you from the sale of your music and/or music videos in the stores/services you choose.
* You grant TuneCore the right to use the name(s), photographs and likenesses, artwork images, biographical and other information provided by you in connection with your music or music videos.
* You agree to the Schedule of Fees for our services.
* You agree to our Privacy Policy.
REMEMBER: TuneCore does not own your songs, your masters, your copyrights, or the rights to any art work or band photo or music videos you submit. You maintain all ownership and control of all your rights. Also remember, TuneCore gets no rights to manufacture CDs, vinyl, DVDs, tapes or anything else. These are your rights, not ours.
On the post: Music Labels Trying To Force Pirate Bay Offline Now
I'm surprised you asked.
No. Next question.
On the post: Blockbuster Takes Its PPV Streaming Movies To TiVo
Two dying brands.
On the post: Treasury Bill Rates Go Negative; Loaning Money At A Guaranteed Loss
Scared money doesn't make money...
On the post: President Signs ProIP Bill Into Law; White House Gets Copyright Czar
I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
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