|
|
RIAA September Trifectaby George Ziemann -- September 14, 2008 We've got new DRM on the way, the Senate Judiciary Committee wants the Dept. of Justice to pursue civil complaints for the RIAA, and, in what is evidently not an example of the kind of anti-competitive behavior that the DOJ should really be focused on, the RIAA labels now own MySpace. Let's start with that one. MySpace Music, scheduled to launch this month, is "an unprecedented joint venture between the social network and three of the Big Four music companies: Universal, SonyBMG, and Warner Music (WMG)," according to CNN Money, which also reports that MySpace is in talks with EMI. We've got an industry in which four companies control 84% of the market and everyone else (independents) adds up to 16%. Three of them (with the fourth considering) start a joint venture giving them ownership of what is arguably the largest showcase of independent music on the net. The "label partners" want a penny every time someone listens to one of their songs. I didn't see any mention of paying the other 2 million (?) acts that helped build the site's popularity. Seems just a little anticompetitive, especially if you're one of the indies on MySpace. The "big four" aren't concerned about the independent sector, whose ship they just teamed up to hijack. They're going to take over and minimize the indies, which they view not as competition, but as a sludge pit that we need the labels to filter for us. They aren't competing with each other, either. They think the competition is Apple. Seems kind of like Craftsman Tools saying they compete with Sears. Apple has sold 5 billion songs, and we can assume that about 84% of them belonged to the RIAA. Despite this, the RIAA labels are teaming up to weaken Apple's position, primarily because Apple will not allow them to set the retail price. Theoretically, the teaming up part seems like an antitrust violation. And the attempt to manipulate the retail price, well, they've already been busted for that at least once. But getting together to take control of the largest indie arena seems okay so far. Maybe that's because the RIAA is keeping the DOJ distracted by the suggestion, brought in via the Senate Judiciary Committee, that the DOJ take over the RIAA's wild goose chase and begin prosecuting civil cases of copyright infringement (giving any winnings to the RIAA). Don't get overwrought, this is still in the bill stage. The full Senate hasn't voted on it yet; the House would have to pass it, too. So don't panic. The RIAA can't win a case in court because a) they have no real admissible evidence, and b) the law doesn't actually say what they pretend it does. Downloading is not a crime. Offering a shared folder might be, but copyright law does not address it. I don't see how transferring the financial burden of the witch hunt to the taxpayers does anyone any good, other than the real criminals that the DOJ will not apprehend because they're tracking down college kids listening to "illegal" music. Part Three of the September Trifecta is "domain-based" DRM, the third generation of the RIAA's quest to embrace the paying customer by continuing to make legitimate acquisition of music as annoying as possible. They refuse to accept that DRM is a disincentive to purchase. So there's at least one thing the indies have going for them. |
|