Slashdot Mirror

WiFi? Cool! Err wait. I've seen this before, sort of. On my cell phone. Click this link to download $HOT_RINGTONE. Ok, now click this link and you'll start downloading it for real. Ha ha! One more link, I promise. Sucker! 2 more, no joke. And another link thrown in just to piss you off you big purple dork! I can't imagine Microsoft's implementation being much better. Queue up Clippy and suddenly: "It's looks like you'd like to download some music. Would you like some help BecomingEmo PretendingToBeGangstaYouStupidWhiteRichKid or YourHipMusicIsNowOldiesRock." Sorry you weren't logged into Microsoft Zone, click here to retry!

Seriously, that music player looks likes something Baby Jesus crapped out into his menorah. Oh yeah, new DRM that's isn't compatible with the existing partners? Good job Microsoft! Looks like some tactics never change.

Apple's going to mop the floor with `em.

no kidding. first, what "is" Muzak, some sort of trademark?

I take it you didn't follow the link.

It's the audio you hear in the mall, in restaurants, everywhere and nowhere.

Sounds like an excellent opportunity to use the features of http://www.asterisk.org/Asterisk to send them all into the bit bucket. Better yet, drive 'em into psychotherapy with http://www.muzak.com/Muzak ;-)

``Using a broadcast radio station as the hold music on a phone system actually requires a copyright license from the station from which the artists/publishers should be seeking their payment.``

I don't know where you got this information, but it's completely inaccurate. In the USA, if you play music in your public space, be it a dentist office, mall, etc, you have to pay BMI and ASCAP, the US equivalents of SOCAN. This has been the case for many decades.

Perhaps your thinking of the subscription commercial music services like DMX or Muzak who provide music and bundle the licensing fees to the retailers- but radio stations are not licensed to resell music for playback in stores or on hold!

(The RIAA has nothing to do with this. BMI and ASCAP represent the performance copyright, where the RIAA represents the sound recording copyright.)

Sorry to sound so crass but /. has a terrible way of amplifying misinformation, and it has to be nipped in the bud.

The easy solution? Pipe in Musak to your business. Totally legit, and you can choose either CD distribution or live Satellite feeds. (disclaimer: Is this available in Canada?)

Ultimately, it's probably wrong/illegal for a business to purchase a CD and then play it for its customers. On the other hand, what's the difference between this and playing the radio for them? I can't see why publicly available radio broadcasts should be surcharged for this reason; they record company plays the music on the radio for all to hear anyway, so what's the big deal?

Incidentally, a retail-type business would never do what those dentists are doing anyway. Their music is carefully selected to slow a shopper's pace down and encourage more sales.

Some worry about the concentration of power in the radio world by companies like Clear Channel. But who listens to radio for music any longer?

I think the real change that Clear Channel has brought about is this:

Stores used to pay companies like muzak to pipe in a pacifying soundtrack for our shopping pleasure. But in the last ten years businesses have figured out that e.g. an actual Hall and Oates song is just as muzakky as an orchestral arrangement of a Hall and Oates song. (No offense to Mr. Hall, Mr. Oates or any other pop entertainers, but there it is.)

Using this insight, Clear Channel is providing a pacifying soundtrack to our stuck-at-work/stuck-in-traffic pleasure.

The way I see it, every place of business that plays something other than Muzak will be charged for the privilege of advertising the cartel's content.

Actually, Muzak isn't free either. Muzak is a company that provides customized background music for businesses. Part of what you pay to Muzak goes towards paying the appropriate ASCAP fees.

If you build it, they will come...

When Gen. George Squier patented the transmission of background music in the 1920s, that is music from phonograph records delivered over electrical lines...