EU Lawmakers Include Spotify and iTunes In Geoblocking Ban (reuters.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Reuters: European Union lawmakers voted on Tuesday to ban online retailers from treating consumers differently depending on where they live and expanded their proposed law to include music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple's iTunes. Ending so-called geoblocking is a priority for the European Commission as it tries to create a single market for digital services across the 28-nation bloc, but many industries argue that they tailor their prices to specific domestic markets. The proposal, which will apply to e-commerce websites such as Amazon, Zalando and eBay, as well as for services provided in a specific location like car rental, forbids online retailers from automatically re-routing customers to their domestic website without their consent. In a blow for the book publishing and music industries, European Parliament members voted to include copyright-protected content such as music, games, software and e-books in the law. That would mean music streaming services such as Spotify and iTunes would not be able to prevent, for example, a French customer buying a cheaper subscription in Croatia, if they have the required rights.

Comments

Good

[sexconker]

This is what happens when you to to exploit the "global economy". It bites back.

Why would anyone pay the sucker price when they can walk across the street and get the same exact thing for much less?
A game, movie, song, etc. isn't worth more based on where it's sold. I'm sick of paying full price for such things while people in Asia and Russia pay pennies on the dollar. (Though I'm glad I'm paying tons more like people in Australia and South America are.) If you can sell the game to millions in China/Russia/etc. for X, I'm going to seek to pay no more than X as well.

I mean, what's the worst that can happen to me? You region lock your shit? I'll just crack it or use a VPN. You jack up the prices in Russia/wherever? You're not going to jack them up past the US price, so it's still a net win for me.

Re:Maximize profits

[AmiMoJo]

Cheap products from China has worked well in Japan. The "one price" shops (like dollar stores) are really good quality. The Japanese companies compete by innovating like crazy in every area. Better quality, new styles, better service, new features, new brands, new ideas. It's exciting.

That's what we need to do. Forget protectionism. Compete and win. Distance is still a factor, especially for service and ability to react to local market conditions like fashion.