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Led Zeppelin Agrees To Digital Distribution

Posted by kdawson on from the stairway-to-profit dept.

cphilo points out a NYTimes article on Led Zeppelin's decision to sell its music online. The group is one of the last superstar acts to hold out against the digital tide. There was a months-long, trans-Atlantic bidding war for the rights to license the band's catalog. In the US, the only digital holdouts that outsell Led Zeppelin are the Beatles and Garth Brooks.

7 of 300 comments (clear)

  1. Garth Brooks may never go digital by ubernostrum · · Score: 5, Interesting

    IIRC when he went into retirement he inked a deal which granted exclusive distribution rights, going forward, to Wal-Mart; unless they get into downloadable music in a big way, or can grant digital rights to a big online player like Amazon or Apple, that may come back to bite him pretty hard.

  2. The real news... by morgan_greywolf · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...is that Garth Brooks outsells Led Zeppelin?!? Who knew?

    --
    My blog
  3. Heh, n00bs... by Ethanol-fueled · · Score: 5, Funny

    The true Led Zap fans rip their vinyls to Mp3 :)

  4. ringtones?!? by russellh · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Ok, from tfa:

    Under a series of new agreements expected to be announced today, the band will make its songs available first as ringtones and similar mobile features starting this week in an exclusive deal with Verizon Wireless.
    WTF? This to me says one of two things: either they don't care about the artistic integrity of their music at all, or they don't understand or don't have any respect for digital distribution, digital music players. I'm going with the former, as the latter has big $$$ attached now, apparently. mp3 players already devalue music generally, but nothing kills integrity like ringtones. Especially stairway to heaven ringtones. OMFG. kill me now.
    --
    must... stay... awake...
  5. Re:Beatles? by Tablizer · · Score: 5, Funny

    Michael Jackson purchased most of the Beatles copyrights. He also owns copyrights to the music of many other artists and whomever wants the rights to use those will have to negotiate with him, at least till his control of the copyrights expire.

    Which means it'll cost you an arm, a leg, and a white-woman's nose.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  6. Re:Led Zep should be FREE by now by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Copyright in sound recordings expires either 50 years after the recording is made, if the recording is published during that period, 50 years from the publication or if during the initial 50 years the recording is played in public or communicated to the public, 50 years from said communication or playing to the public if the author of the broadcast is an EEA citizen. Otherwise duration under the laws of the country of which the author is a national applies, unless such a duration would be longer than offered in UK law, or be contrary to treaty obligations of the UK in force on 29 October 1993.
    from wikipedia Led Zeppelin is still played regularly, so it's not becoming public domain anytime soon. I don't know why USA copyright laws are relevant(both led zeppelin and their record label are based in the UK), but they don't only last 17 years as you said, they last 70 years AFTER the artist's death.
  7. Re:Led out? by wasted · · Score: 5, Funny

    What took so long to get the led out?

    My thoughts on possible reasons:
    • Technology left them Dazed and Confused .
    • They resisted when they had plenty of money during the Good Times, Bad Times currently prevail, though.
    • They wanted to ensure that The Song Remains the Same during the analog to digital conversion.
    • They wanted to do it earlier, but there was a Communication Breakdown - during the discussions, it seemed that one of the parties would just Ramble On .
    • They weren't sure what the analog to digital conversion would do to their Rock and Roll , and were considering Going to California to get it all straightened out.