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Cringely Proposes a Music Sharing Alternative

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the buying-the-power-back dept.

WEFUNK writes "The I, Cringely 'Pulpit' column at PBS presents an interesting idea for a new business model to take on the RIAA. He suggests that a publicly traded company could legally and profitably buy a single copy of each record which could then be freely copied and listened to by its shareholders under fair use. His 'Snapster' (Son of Napster) proposal is essentially a digital music co-op that would let shareholders/consumers bring copyrighted material into a quasi-public domain. While fair use and the public domain continue to be lost in our courts and congresses, maybe the capital markets will offer an alternative." While a neat idea, it's doubtful that it'll ever be implemented. Still, it's a good read.

1 of 730 comments (clear)

  1. Take a ride on the clue train... by Genda · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    Folks... this is not brain surgery...

    Why is there no election reform? Why has our government become the best that money can buy? And, why does the RIAA do what it does?

    People in power, with money, and legions or souless legal zamboids, will squeeze out any law they need to, to protect their corporate asses. If they need to repeal the 'Bill of Rights' and pave over old aunt Mauve's grave... they absatively, posilutely will (one only needs to look as far as the Patriot Atrocity... er I mean Act.)

    So discussing a business plan to legally sidestep the RIAA is tremendously naive. Until you can grab the lawmakers by the short and curlies, and make them pass sane fair-use and IP laws (and pimp slap the U.S. patent office into sanity), we can continue to expect (corporations and) the RIAA, it's lobbyists, and it's jackbooted nazi panzer lawyers to keep doing more of what they do so well.

    Hell I'm still waiting for the basturds to figure out a way to sue the entire country for the use of air, because everybody knows that their copywrited music must pass through the air to your ears, therefore as a fundamental aspect of the music business, we must pay them for the air.

    Genda Bendte

    - ...Bet I could get rich on college campus' alone, by composing industrial rock whose background included the sound of Music Corpos being tossed into wood chippers!