February 28, 2006

Levy
3. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the levy rates shall be
(a) 29¢ for each audio cassette of 40 minutes or more in length;
(b) 21¢ for each CD-R or CD-RW;
(c) 77¢ for each CD-R Audio, CD-RW Audio or MiniDisc.

Section 1004. Royalty payments
(a) Digital audio recording devices
(1) Amount of payment.
The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording device imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 2 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such device shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such device

(b) Digital Audio Recording Media The royalty payment due under section 1003 for each digital audio recording medium imported into and distributed in the United States, or manufactured and distributed in the United States, shall be 3 percent of the transfer price. Only the first person to manufacture and distribute or import and distribute such medium shall be required to pay the royalty with respect to such medium.

Section 1008. Prohibition on certain infringement actions No action may be brought under this title alleging infringement of copyright based on the manufacture, importation, or distribution of a digital audio recording device, a digital audio recording medium, an analog recording device, or an analog recording medium, or based on the noncommercial use by a consumer of such a device or medium for making digital musical recordings or analog musical recordings.

Multipurpose devices, such as a general computer or a CD-ROM drive, are not covered by the AHRA. This means that they are not required to pay royalties or incorporate SCMS protections. It also means, however, that neither manufacturers of the devices, nor the consumers who use them, receive immunity from suit for copyright infringement.

There are some limitations. Whether the court allows you to reproduce, distribute, adapt, display and/or perform copyrighted works depends upon the nature of the use (commercial purposes, non-profit, educational), the length of the excerpt, how distinctive the original work is, and how the use will impact the market for the original work.

Generally speaking, one is not allowed to take the "value" of a song without permission, and sometimes that value is found even in a three-second clip. When in doubt, it is always wise to check with the copyright owner, because in many cases even a small clip of a song may not be "fair use."

February 23, 2006

There's a lot of music (40%) that *none* of the services have. Note eMusic and AudioLunchbox don't score much higher than anyone else. Any notion that with some combination of iTunes and eMusic you have all the music that's fit to hear is bullshit. Yes, we're using a UK magazine as our test, but this is all music that someone thought was worth writing about in November, yet 40% of it is unavailable in the US through legal channels, period. And in 2006 isn't this a "global" music market? I'd be curious what percentage you could get through P2P channels - anyone want to run that test? I'm guessing it's very close to 100%.

February 16, 2006

I absolutely believe that allowing people to cherry-pick the tracks they want from each album cannibalizes full-length album sales and is ultimately detrimental to the artists who created the music...

It is important for people to experience the entire album. Not just a track(s). The artist went into the studio and created a body of work. If you were buying a painting from Picasso, would you have said, "Look Pablo. I like this painting man. But I only like that corner part with the tree and the guy's finger. How about you chop off that corner and I give you $1 instead of $10 for the painting? Is that cool? I really do not care about the rest of what you were trying to convey in that piece of work." The artwork, the lyrics, the sequencing of the album typically tell a very important story. It is a work of art! If people are being conditioned to not listen to albums in this way, they are nullifying the entire musical experience...at least in our genre as a rock label...

iTunes makes music disposable. It makes it a faceless impulse item. It steals its soul...

Labels: Bob Lefsetz, cherry picking, iTunes, Tony Brummel

February 09, 2006

Labels: Amazon, free downloads

February 07, 2006

Not to harp on an old idea, but looking at just the music I have on my work computer:

Ludwig van Beethoven: 9 tracks, 5:47:25
Dead Kennedys: 113 tracks, 5:25:05

By my current charts (minus those artists), if I played these files Dead Kennedys would have enough plays to get #1, and Beethoven wouldn't make the top 50, despite the fact I would have listened to 23 more minutes of the Beethoven!

Labels: Google, Last.fm, music search

February 03, 2006

"There are lots of newbies out there, people who don't know of any of these bands, and they could easily buy one song," said David Dorn, senior vice president of new-media strategy at Rhino. "What keeps me up at night is, how do I get you to see that, with the Ramones, you shouldn't just buy 'Blitzkrieg Bop' and be done with it?"

Labels: cannibalization, cherry picking, loss leader

February 01, 2006

Labels: cherry picking, digital music pricing, eMusic, iTunes, variable pricing