Opinion: Why the Bruce Willis Apple iTunes story matters. Jonny Evans. Computerworld. September 04, 2012.
Article discussing a possible lawsuit against Apple in order to regain the right to bequeath iTunes music collection. "The music industry isn’t really about music: it’s about formats and distribution. First there was ... sheet music, then 78rpm records, then 45rpm vinyl, Super8, cassette, CD -- and now digital. The only difference between each evolving format is that the industry willfully ignored digital until it was too late for it to completely control music acquired in those formats.
That’s why label bosses (who like to pay artists a mere 10-13 percent of the profits of music releases) stress artist “rights” while insisting on ever more draconian monitoring of the online world in order to ensure distribution of tracks they acquire rights to is controlled."
"If the music industry were about music then every track ever licensed by labels would be made available via all digital services."
The only reason for a label refusing to allow music to be left to friends or family is to "ensure that when the next evolution of music distribution takes place it can ensure we all invest in the same music in a different format." The industry wants to keep an even bigger slice of the overall income while making users pay regular recurring subscription fees to access music that is never actually owned, or in other words, making a system of lifetime rentals. While there is not yet a lawsuit, it does draw attention to a consumer right that’s been quietly obliterated in the digital age: the chance to actually own the collection of digital music.
Article discussing a possible lawsuit against Apple in order to regain the right to bequeath iTunes music collection. "The music industry isn’t really about music: it’s about formats and distribution. First there was ... sheet music, then 78rpm records, then 45rpm vinyl, Super8, cassette, CD -- and now digital. The only difference between each evolving format is that the industry willfully ignored digital until it was too late for it to completely control music acquired in those formats.
That’s why label bosses (who like to pay artists a mere 10-13 percent of the profits of music releases) stress artist “rights” while insisting on ever more draconian monitoring of the online world in order to ensure distribution of tracks they acquire rights to is controlled."
"If the music industry were about music then every track ever licensed by labels would be made available via all digital services."
The only reason for a label refusing to allow music to be left to friends or family is to "ensure that when the next evolution of music distribution takes place it can ensure we all invest in the same music in a different format." The industry wants to keep an even bigger slice of the overall income while making users pay regular recurring subscription fees to access music that is never actually owned, or in other words, making a system of lifetime rentals. While there is not yet a lawsuit, it does draw attention to a consumer right that’s been quietly obliterated in the digital age: the chance to actually own the collection of digital music.
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