Sony Eyes EMI, Then Pretends They Didn't
May 12, 2010 -- On
Sunday, Sony Music CEO Rolf Schmidt-Holtz said that pursuing
the acquisition of EMI was "not out of the question." This
was reported by, well, everyone. Here are links to the UPI
version and the Reuters
version. On Monday, the
story changed significantly, with a "source" offering
the spurious logic that Schmidt-Holtz was not really talking
about EMI when he was talking about EMI.
Bay City Rollers Finally Sue Sony
By George Ziemann -- March 21, 2007
The BBC is reporting that the Bay City Rollers are suing
Sony for unpaid royalties. It's about damn time.
Have to admit the band was
never among my favorites. They had one hit in the U.S. ("Saturday
Night"), back in 1976. It was catchy, but they were a little
too "pop" and not enough rock for me. Being from Scotland,
they did better in the UK and scored 10 top ten hits there.
The band says at least 70 million
of their albums have been sold in the 30-plus years since they
signed with Arista Records (now part of Sony/BMG). So far, they've
received exactly one royalty check, for $254,000.
Sony says they'd love to pay
the band the money it owes them but there is a small problem,
namely that Arista long ago lost the original contract. So they
don't know how they're supposed to divide it up. Faced with that
dilemma, the record label decided to just keep all the money.
Another example of grand larceny
by a record label, which makes the moralistic
blathering of the RIAA all that much more annoying.
If you ever bought a Bay City
Rollers album, they probably didn't get paid for it. If you downloaded
the stuff you like, or every track from all of their albums,
the band was not paid any less than if you had bought them in
the store. You can't "steal" music from the Bay City
Rollers because Arista beat you to it by 30 years.
So-o-o-o... if a BCR tune showed
up on an RIAA subpoena, does that open up the "unclean hands"
defense? Even better, how about a shared directory of songs by
artists that have been famously financially screwed by their
record labels? If every tune has an associated story that illustrates
just who the real criminals in the music business are, who is
the jury going to side with?
FTC Gives Sony Free Pass for Spyware
Remember a couple of years
ago when Congress wanted to pass anti-spyware laws with criminal
penalties and jail time attached for the perpetrators? The
state of Washington actually passed an anti-spyware law with
a $100,000 fine per incident.
Apparently, that's just if
you do it. When Sony does it, it's a
different damn story.
In 2005, Sony shipped more
than 12 million compact discs on 52 Sony BMG titles, each loaded
with one of two content protection programs, and about 7 million
of those CDs were sold.
According to the Federal Trade
Commission, Sony's "anti-piracy software limited the devices
on which music could be played to those made by Sony Corp. or
Microsoft Corp. It also restricted the number of copies that
could be made and monitored consumers' listening habits to send
them marketing messages."
The FTC said the software also
"exposed consumers to significant security risks and was
unreasonably difficult to uninstall."
The punishment? $150 for each
customer who can figure out how to claim it, and Sony doesn't
have to admit that they did anything wrong.
Price-fixing, payola, spyware,
£50 million that they're "holding" for the Bay
City Rollers. They never admit that they did anything wrong.
Neither did Al Capone.
--
The Washington
Post's Piracy archive seems to be dedicated exclusively to
Sony. But not in a good way.
Yep, it's going to be at
least that bad before the labels get a grip on reality. By
then, it'll be too late.
Sony's Lame PR Trick
by George Ziemann -- July 20, 2006
From Yahoo News: "A host
of unreleased material from Bob Dylan's new album is reported
to have been leaked online by mistake. A number of 30-second
clips from Modern Times are understood to have accidentally
been made available on an official Sony music store."
There is still a philosophical
argument over whether an mp3 file is an advertisement for the
better quality CD version or an acceptable substitute product
for the less discerning customer who values portability. A 30-second
clip, however, is a fucking ad for something. No discussion necessary.
So you (and Bob Dylan) are
supposed to believe that Sony accidentally posted a set of advertisements
on its own official music store for an album that's due out in
a month. It wasn't pre-publicity. It wasn't a "sneak peek".
No, it's a huge mistake. You're not supposed to hear those ads
yet. It's a leak! Holy shit! Somebody fucked up big time. Heads
will roll. But worry not, Great Mumbling One, they've been removed.
Yes, we know, it's already too late. Some people may be able
to find those ads right now without even visiting Sony's site.
We screwed up, Bob. Won't happen again. We guarantee it.
Not only are you supposed to
believe that, but you're not ever supposed to consider what happened
next.
Pretend, for a moment, that
you are running Sony music, or at least the marketing department.
Unreleased music has "accidentally" been put out on
the Internet. It's that "intellectual property" that
everyone's so concerned about. Okay, it was just some short clips.
All you know is that they weren't supposed to be out there and
words like "mistake" and "accident" are bouncing
around the room. What do you do to keep the "leak"
under wraps?
Send out a press release, of
course.
July 14, 2006 -- Sony/BMG's 2004 merger has been un-approved
by the European Union, meaning that they may have to un-merge.
The reconsideration was the result of efforts by the Impala organization,
which represents independent artists in Europe and the UK.
The DRM Debacle
Class
Action Suit in Canada
Sony's
XCP Used Open Source Code
Sony Warns of Their Other DRM
Software
DRM's
Greatest Obstacle -- Princeton's Alex Halderman
Sony's Graffiti Fiasco
Dec. 9 -- Sony's
DRM Removal Patch Opens Security Hole
Sony
Repents, 'Re-evaluating' Copy Protection
2003 -- "...this CD will not be able to be mass
copied ... it is now possible to offer consumers the level of
flexibility to which they have become accustomed while beginning
to better protect our artists' rights." These were the words
of Thomas Hesse, BMG's 'chief strategic officer,' in conjunction
with the release of BMG's first CD to the United States (via
Arista Records) equipped with the new 2003 incarnation of copy-protection.
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