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eBay Running Trial for Downloadable Music
supersandra writes "Looks like eBay has been inspired by all those millions of iTunes song sales. They're running a six-month test offering downloadable music through authorized sellers, who would have to 'ensure copyright protection for the content and meet service-level agreements.' Also of note, 'music buyers won't be allowed to resell the files on eBay.'"
You think indie doesn't have anything to do with the RIAA? - Think again. Many many indie labels are owned by not-so-indie labels (like Sony, for example) which of course are active members of the RIAA.
Ah yes, the mp3 formula of collecting money for you, that they won't send out. And occasionally changing the amount owed without explanation.
Then when enough people bitch about it, start charging money for an email response. Say, the emails I have where they wanted more of my money to answer why they haven't paid me yet. I didn't pay the money so I never got an answer. But I sure am glad I helped mp3 make money.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
how about the same one that has worked for them all this time:
Charge for listing an item
Charge again if it sells
I like microcars
You can figure out who is and isn't owned by an RIAA member using the RIAA Radar
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
I'm guessing you work there. mp3.com owes my band about $60-80 for cds and songs played. Not a lot, but enough to be annoying.
My first email said, "you keep changing how much you owe us, and when will you pay us" and got a response that said "we'll answer in 7-10 business days". I replied to that email once a month. Then I'd get the same 7-10 email which I'd respond to the next month. That went on for a year or a bit longer. Then they started answering, "You need to upgrade your mp3 account to get an answer".
Weasels.
riding round the world on an old motorcycle
"But eBay's market entry isn't seen as a threat to Apple, Sony, Roxio, which owns the Napster service, or other companies that sell music online. "I see it as a revenue stream for eBay, and not something that's transformational for the industry," said Gartner analyst Martin Reynolds, adding that he would expect music downloading to be a "relatively small percentage" of eBay's business.
Any unsigned artist can sell his/her music however he likes. See CD Baby for but one example of indie music available for sale and purchase.
sulli
RTFJ.
It exists. It's Roxio's New Napster and Real's Rhapsody service. Both offer pay-per-month schemes that allow you to have unlimited playback access (on DRMed computers, of course) to all of the music they're allowed to give you. Any major artist that's not there is excluded because the artist or their label is holding out... $9.95 a month for either service.
:)
Real uses a streaming model, but Napster actually allows you to authorize three PCs, and cashe tracks on disk. Therefore, you can download music to a laptop and play on the go...
This is too much like a sales pitch, so I might as well finish it with this link to napster.com
Go with Rhapsody. All you can stream from a pretty huge library is around ten bucks a month. I do most of my music listening in my home office, so this is perfect for me. I barely use CDs anymore. It's especially nice being able to satisfy those weird urges to hear things you normally hate at no (incremental) cost whatsoever. (I'm not going to by an America CD just to satisfy my psychotic need to hear "Sister Golden Hair", but if I can have it streaming for free in a few seconds...)
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Of course, there is the chance you were trying to use some wit to mock the MD technology, in which case I am a fucktard, but my post is still a valid way to get streamed content onto your MD.
As far as I know, independant artists can sell their music through all the normal normal music services
Independent artists can't sell through the "normal normal music services" that dial-up people use, that is, Compact Disc sales through Wal-Mart and Best Buy brick and mortar store chains. The major labels pay to rent shelf space in those stores.
how would EBay give them a greater advantage?
Even within the realm of fully-paid-up perpetual rentals of digitally downloaded records (it's not really a sale without a significant right of resale), the eBay brand would bring name recognition.
Apparantly They Might Be Giants(the band) have decided to start selling their new CD on their website as pure unadulterated actual MP3s! None of that other crap that has tons of arbitrary usage rights. "You can burn this song to 3 CDs, transfer to up to 2 computers, and listen to it up to 14 times. This song will self-destruct in 5 days, sucker!" Is it a GOOD idea for them to be selling the actual MP3s. Obviously, they realize that a lot of people will emidiately put it on Kazaa. But on the other hand, by selling it on their website on their own, the $9.99 that you pay for the CD goes straight to their pocket, instead of countless middlemen.
Why bother, allofmp3.com already does sell ogg. And flac, and monkey's and...well, just about every common format, including wav(!?!). Lossless compression does cost double (2c per MB vs 1c/MB for mp3/aac/ogg...why, I have no idea).
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?