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The rise of free content exchanges
on the Internet has prompted the entertainment industry to decide whether to
take a hard stand against the future of file swapping or to embrace the innovation
being displayed by these 'new tech' start-ups. With the major labels winning
their copyright infringement case against MP3.com earlier this year, it seems
that they are taking the upper hand in the tug-or-war against the dot com bandicoots,
with licensing, syndicating, or 'moneytising content' emerging as a solution
in the virtual wild west.
The 9th June 2000 will go down in history as the point at which the net came
of age and its networked properties were finally realised - MP3.com settled
the copyright infringement lawsuit with Time Warner Music Group and Bertelsmann's
BMG Entertainment. Along with the settlement, they have entered into separate
licensing agreements which allows MP3.com to use their respective music libraries
in its 'My MP3.com' service to capitalise on the popularity and the critical
mass of this new leisure dynamic. A recent report published by the infamous
news feed webnoize.com, 'Napster University', found that 57% of US College students
were weekly users of the file swapping service.
This agreement is the first in a long line of disputes between 'new tech' start-ups
and the music industry, to ensure copyright protection of their signed works.
For example, Metallica and Dr.Dre are suing Napster in connection with the widespread
piracy of their work. What this agreement signals is the right of copyright
owners to be compensated for their works on the Internet and it is likely that
the agreement will open the floodgates for other music start-ups, striking similar
licensing deals with the major record labels. It is likely that those licensing
tracks from the major labels for their service will have to charge their subscribers
to cover the sound recording licensing fees, additional publishing licenses
and infrastructure costs. MP3.com will therefore emerge as a music-provider
with brand equity and back-end fulfilment that other Internet companies may
use.
You can now compose your own music, but you must conduct someone else's orchestra.
matt@folkdevil.com
© Matt Hardisty, 2000, 2001. All Rights Reserved,