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Apple, the RIAA, and Ringtones

Posted by Zonk on from the tangled-web dept.

pilsner.urquell writes "Apple's interest in defending the rights of the consumer has cost them a lot of grief in the ringtone market. 'John Gruber of the Daring Fireball cites Engadget, which reported that the RIAA wanted to be able to distribute ringtones of its artists without having to pay them big money to do so. It won a decision last year before the Copyright Office saying that ringtones weren't derivative works, meaning they didn't infringe on the copyright of the songwriter.' The piece goes on to explain the tense relationship between Apple content holders regarding ringtones and other pieces of IP, such as in the recent withdrawal of NBC."

11 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. I never knew copyright law was THIS broken by jonwil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Playing an audio file from your phone through speakers requires different permissions than playing the same audio file from the same phone through the same speakers in response to a phone call event... How screwed up is that?

    1. Re:I never knew copyright law was THIS broken by ArCh3r · · Score: 5, Funny

      You are new to this country I see.

    2. Re:I never knew copyright law was THIS broken by Professor_UNIX · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pretty soon we'll need to buy one DVD per DVD player and they'll have some kind of activation thing where the first time you play it ties it to that DVD player if we keep going down this road.

    3. Re:I never knew copyright law was THIS broken by Zontar+The+Mindless · · Score: 5, Funny

      Pretty soon we'll need to buy one DVD per DVD player... Sssshhhhh!! They'll hear you...
      --
      Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
  2. Entertainment Cartels Want it All by Apple+Acolyte · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They want to have their revenue cake and eat it too, and they don't even want to cut the original authors in. They are an unnecessary drain on the digital marketplace, a dinosaur of the 20th Century. Eventually these cartels will be replaced, since the goods they offer have little compelling reason to be sold in physical formats. It's a just a question of time before key producers decide it makes sufficient financial sense to bypass them completely.

    --
    Part of the hardcore faithful who believed in Apple long before it was cool again to do so
  3. So, it's free? by Carewolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If a song as a ringtone isn't a derived product, and RIAA can makes ringtones of popular music without infringing the copyright of the artists that means we (anyone) can also make our own ringtones of popular music without infringing anyones copyright...

    1. Re:So, it's free? by Carewolf · · Score: 5, Informative
      Answering my own comment after RFTA:

      Derk Nek of Epplegacks explained that--unfortunately--what the RIAA actually won in the case cited by Engadget was instead the right to collect money for ringtones without distributing those fees to the artists they represent. There was no establishing that ringtones are not protected intellectual property, so the RIAA will continue collecting royalty fees, because distributing songs or portions of songs requires mechanical rights. Playing a ringtone might also--in the mind of the RIAA and the letter of the law--require performing rights.


      Though it doesn't get any less fucked up by this explaination.

  4. Re:Weird, that by EvanED · · Score: 5, Informative
    No, the submitter either didn't RTFA or felt like being misleading. Engadget did report that, but they were wrong, as the article explains in the very next paragraph:

    Writing about Apple's iTunes ringtones, John Gruber of the Daring Fireball cited Engadget, which reported that "the RIAA wanted to be able to distribute ringtones of its artists without having to pay them big money to do so (surprised?), and it won a decision last year before the Copyright Office saying that ringtones weren't 'derivative works,' meaning they didn't infringe on the copyright of the songwriter."

    Engadget, known for shooting from the hip rather than the brain, didn't really understand whole story. From its report, Gruber concluded, "So if you have the right to play a song, you have the right to use it as a ringtone on your phone."

    Gruber blamed a "complicated, confusing mess of a ringtone policy" on Apple, and suggested the company should have simply handed out tools to create ringtones from any users. Incidentally, that's apparently what Apple was going to do back in January.

    Derk Nek of Epplegacks explained that--unfortunately--what the RIAA actually won in the case cited by Engadget was instead the right to collect money for ringtones without distributing those fees to the artists they represent. There was no establishing that ringtones are not protected intellectual property, so the RIAA will continue collecting royalty fees, because distributing songs or portions of songs requires mechanical rights. Playing a ringtone might also--in the mind of the RIAA and the letter of the law--require performing rights.
  5. Ringtones - the most important thing in the world? by clarkkent09 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just googled "ringtones" and it came up with 112 million results. Going by the first 3-4 pages, most of them seem to be either selling or offering "free" ringtones. Some comparisons:

    bread: 78 million
    oxygen: 91 million
    global warming: 80 million
    world peace: 2.8 million
    liberty: 95 million

    But, fortunately:

    beer: 128 million

    Whew... close

    --
    Negative moral value of force outweighs the positive value of good intentions.
  6. Re:Weird, that by GeckoX · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What we need is for the Artists to revolt against this. It goes way way too far. They already get screwed by the MAFIAA, and now the MAFIAA got a legal standing that they are allowed to make money off of the artists work, but have no obligation to pay the artists.

    These assholes, in theory, are supposed to be working FOR the artists. The ONLY reason the MAFIAA exists in the first place is because of the artists...No artists...No music...No money to collect royalties for.

    The MAFIAA needs to be taken out back and shot. It's the humane thing to do after all.

    --
    No Comment.
  7. Another great article and consumer's rights by pbooktebo · · Score: 5, Informative
    One thing the article doesn't cover is the fact that consumers have a legal right to "make their own" ringtone from music they own. According to this article by Sasha Frere-Jones in the New Yorker, consumers can create their own ringtones from music they own legally:

    "Or you can do it yourself: some new cell-phone models can be connected to a computer by a data cable, allowing you to create master tones from MP3 files at home. However it is done, transferring music that you own to your phone is legal under copyright law."

    source: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/03/07/050307crmu_music
    By the way, this is one of the best articles on ringtones, covering the technical advances from monophonic MIDI to compressed audio, and the impact on the aesthetics of ringtones. I teach a class on music technology, and the first assignment is to have students compose and create their own ringtone (not by ripping from a CD, actually creating their own). I use the New Yorker article to get everyone up to speed on how big ringtones are in the world today.