Slashdot Mirror
Music Owners' Listening Rights Act
slashdoter writes: "EFF has some info on a new bill before Congress. The
Music Owners' Listening Rights Act of 2000
says that you can use the internet to move music as long as you own the CD. You can
read the story
at the EFF website." The
360-word bill
would have cut the my.mp3.com lawsuit off at the knees, so naturally
mp3.com likes it;
if it passes, mp3.com might even discover its
missing backbone.
So check to see whether your Congressperson is
on the House Judiciary Committee; if so, since that's where the bill is, your opinion can have some real leverage.
Send email!
slashdoter continues: "And on a side note, I just received my welcome letter from the EFF and was angered to find I was only member #11420. After 10 years that's all they have. Come on, as a student it only cost me $20(US). Words are nice but money speaks."
On another side note: civil-rights-wise, it's ironic that this bill's author also introduced H.R. 1081, a silly thing that died in committee. A hate-crime law with stiff penalties for flag-bashing.
It's still not out of the legal woods - there is a civil lawsuit from teh shareholders who argue that because mp3.com knew what they were doing was illegal when they started Beam-It (bearing in mind that myplay.com was already operating a similar service *legally*) they are responsible for the financial losses as a result of plummeting share prices.
Add into that the completely unprofitable terms they agreesd with the publishers and labels there's no way they can demonstrate a business plan which will let them survive.
So... if they go into hibernation and hope that bill succeeds then they might survive, but that's assuming they can survuve the rest of the lawsuits. Instead - if they launch Beam-It again it'll drain their funding anyway but keep their users.... until they can no longer afford the per track fees.
The thing is - mp3.com have now set the goign rate for licensing fees - so they've probably screwed up companies like Musicbank who were relying on acquiring these licenses, and I guess they've stopped myplay.com from trying to do the Beam-It thing also - at least until the bill comes through.
Fun Fun Fun....