

The Music Industry’s New Extortion Scheme - nickb
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/03/27/the-music-industrys-new-extortion-scheme/

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mynameishere
<http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html>

_All sorts of development can be funded with a Software Tax_

Kids today never know who they are criticizing.

~~~
ken
Read further: "But if the computer buyer makes a donation to software
development himself, he can take a credit against the tax. He can donate to
the project of his own choosing".

I think there would be _much_ less offense taken to this "tax" if we could pay
the $5 to the artist of our choosing and get the same benefits.

~~~
foonamefoo
So the buyer donates to his friend, and his friend donates to him, and
effectively no one ends up paying the computer tax.

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Prrometheus
I really hate the music labels. Here's hoping online publishing
(thefeelgood.com, amiestreet.com) puts them out of business before they can do
too much damage to the legal institutions of this country.

~~~
wmeredith
I'll throw in a good word here for AmieStreet.com. I've been on there for
about 3 months and I'm loving it.

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mhb
__________ industry revenues will be a set size, regardless of the quality or
type of _______ they release. Incentives to innovate will evaporate._

Yes. Fill in the blank - public education, health care, etc.

~~~
run4yourlives
To be fair, 99% of the time I'm not looking for innovation in my hospital
stay.

~~~
mhb
If the blood-letting is still working for you, then, by all means, stick with
it.

~~~
run4yourlives
There's a difference between being stagnant and being a guinea pig though.

~~~
mhb
As there is between a serious concern and a straw man.

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ssharp
I think it's obvious that the music industry is headed towards an "all you can
eat" model to generate the bulk of revenue related to its recorded properties.
Either this (doubtful) or a premium on your MP3 player (likely), or something
else. What will be interesting is how this changes the way music gets
marketed.

I actually don't see anything changing. Labels will simply push all their
artists into 360 deals where the labels get money for not only their record
sales but also everything else, touring, merchandise, etc. The incentive is
still going to be there to promote acts that classically "sell" even if "sell"
no longer includes record sales.

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mixmax
When a whole industry starts suing their customers on a regular basis you know
they are in serious trouble.

There are so many alternative ways of making money, and I'm frankly amazed
that the music industry hasn't even managed to implement one single money-
making scheme. Apple clearly shows that it is possible - so they really have
no excuse.

They should stop sobbing and get out there and compete in a market that is
always changing and often brutal. That's what the rest of us have to do.

~~~
attack
As the banking industry has shown us, what's good for the industry in the long
term is often not what's good for the individuals in charge in the short
term....

So I can't entirely say I'm surprised.

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juanpablo
Spain has already a music tax. They just assume that every DVD-R, CD-R, Hard
Drive, iPod, etc. will be used to store "pirated" music so they charged them
accordingly.

~~~
jamesbritt
And, since there has been payment, people are then allowed to "pirate" music?

~~~
juanpablo
Yes. If you don't make money from it AND it is from personal use, it is
_technically_ legal.

In practice, however, restaurants, salons for private weedings and even
individuals who throw parties in their houses are being sued (or charged with
a fee) for using copyrighted music in a non-personal or profit-making way.
It's totally insane.

The tax is collected not by the goverment but instead by an increasingly-
powerful-lobby who "represent the artists" (called SGAE) so the situation it's
only getting worse.

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PieSquared
If the music industry as we know it is dying, what's going to replace it?

Music tax - definitely bad idea. Buying CDs/albums - apparently, that is
'dying'.

So, then, how are artists going to get payed in such a way that both artists
and consumers are happy? They won't work for free, after all. I've been think
about this, but to no avail - nothing really comes to mind.

