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TruSonic Uses MP3.com Catalog As Muzak

Posted by simoniker on from the cha-cha-cha dept.

Wacky_Wookie writes "Well, it looks like all the artists who put their songs up on MP3.com are about to break into a whole new market - elevators! The Register is reporting that Vivendi, who had control over MP3.com's archive of over 1.5 million songs even after the site's sale to CNET, has sold rebroadcasting rights to TruSonic.com, who sell them as piped music to hotels, restaurants and other businesses, passing on royalties along the way. I guess this is Vivendi's way of 'lifting' artists into new markets." Unfortunately, according to the TruSonic site FAQ, the site "does not support any type of artist page that is accessible by the public", and, according to another independent page, "any song that any artist [uploaded to MP3.com since a certain date?] got enrolled into TruSonic unless the artist 'opted out'."

9 of 230 comments (clear)

  1. Muzak is a trademark! by akejay · · Score: 2, Informative

    They are using the mp3.com catalog as background music.

    --
    one, two, one two like a duck
    1. Re:Muzak is a trademark! by akejay · · Score: 4, Informative

      per www.muzak.com, "Muzak(R) is a registered trademark of Muzak LLC."

      --
      one, two, one two like a duck
    2. Re:Muzak is a trademark! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Isn't this similar to Kodak or Xerox, where a trademark has lost its protected status because it has become a word in 'common usage'?

      Kodak? Does anyone really use that as a generic word?

      Neither of those words (or "Muzak") has officially lost protected status. See this page for details.

  2. cool biz by tedtimmons · · Score: 4, Informative

    Trusonic is pretty cool. They are an offshoot of MP3.com (before MP3 died and the domain name was sold to cnet) called "Retail Music Services". They used to use small, rugged PCs with a couple of audio output jacks, running Linux. They probably have something better now, but it was cool to see Linux boxes at the back of businesses.

    -ted

  3. Re:Your rights online? by Aardpig · · Score: 2, Informative

    I just had my songs sold for muzak because I didn't opt out.

    According to their FAQ, you can opt out at any point. If you don't like your music being sold as muzak, opt out right now. It's not like they've just shagged your mum, is it?

    --
    Tubal-Cain smokes the white owl.
  4. Whiners! by geekd · · Score: 4, Informative

    You people (the complainers) are so stupid.

    This program has been going on for years. TruSonic has been around since 2000. Mp3.com artists have been used as elevator music for over 3 years already.

    All that happened is that division of mp3.com called TruSonic got sold seperately from the rest of mp3.com.

    Maybe try reading the artist agreement before you give your music away.

    dumbasses.

  5. Opt-out Link by MunchMunch · · Score: 2, Informative

    I was an MP3.com artist and for obvious reasons wanted to opt out. Here's the link.

  6. The Register article seems to be incorrect by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

    I'm not sure what kinds of fact-checking they did, but this is contrary to what TruSONIC has said in their correspondence with musicians, namely that the only music from the mp3.com back-catalog that they're using is the stuff which was specifically enrolled into TruSONIC when it was part of mp3.com, and for that there was a checkbox when you uploaded a song (which was checked by default, yes, making it "opt-out," but you'd have to have been blind and/or stupid to not uncheck it if you didn't want your music used in TruSONIC).

    Also, the royalty payouts are small because their revenue is small. Read the weblog entry which was linked at the bottom of the Register article... it's a followup to an open letter to TruSONIC about the bad wording in the FAQ regarding payouts.

  7. Re:Meh by wishus · · Score: 2, Informative

    According to the TruSonic FAQ the article linked to, you can log in and withdraw your songs at any time.

    In addition, only the artists that signed up specifically for TruSonic (before the demise of mp3.com) were imported. I checked and my stuff wasn't on there, even though it had been on mp3.com since '99 or so.

    I think their royalty structure sucks, but I don't think they've screwed anyone ... yet.