EMI May Cut Funding To RIAA, IFPI 158
Teen Bainwolf notes a report that Big Four record label EMI, which is under new ownership, is considering a big cut in its funding for the IFPI and RIAA. Each of the labels reportedly contributed over $132 million per year to fund industry trade groups, and EMI apparently believes that money could be better spent elsewhere. "One of the chief activities of the RIAA is coordinating the Big Four labels' legal campaign, and those thousands of lawsuits have done nothing but generate ill will from record fans, while costing the labels millions of dollars and doing little (if anything) to actually reduce the amount of file-sharing going on."
Tag this (Score:5, Insightful)
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Or it could be that the music industry is turning altruistic in it's old age and they wish to slash their profit margins by condoning free downloads. The next move in this vein will undoubtedly be a repeal of the "work for hire" clauses in all contracts, as well as a large hike in royalties.
Re:Tag this (Score:4, Interesting)
Advertising isn't altruistic. Giving out free samples isn't altruistic. These dumbasses need to realise that they are RECORD companies and start selling RECORDS again - physical media with full fidelity music on them. Give away the MP3s.
Of course, this will be the death knell of losers who put out a CD's worth of crap that has one decent single they play on the radio. But with some bands it's the opposite. By the time Aerosmith came out, I'd given up buying an album on the strength of a song on the radio, and I REALLY was unimpressed with the minor key whiney Aerosmith song they played on the radio, Dream On. It turned out that that was the only sucky song on the album! But if you had liked that song, you likely wouldn't have liked the rest of the album. I bought it after I heard the LP at a friend's house.
It it was today, and the songs were posted in the internet, I'd have bought it right away.
I always liked Santanna, and when Supernatural came out they weren't playing any of it on the radio here. So I went to CD NOW and listened to the 30 second clips of its songs, and was incredibly unimpressed. "When did they start sucking?" I asked.
Well, my daughter didn't know this but knew I liked Santanna, and bought tha CD for me for Christmas. It was a great CD! Had she not bought it, they would have lost a sale. But had she not bought it and they had posted full MP3s on the internet, I would have bought it.
Advertisers will tell you "sell the sizzle, not the steak". If brains were dynamite, record company execs wouldn't have enough to blow their noses. If they had any brains they would post MP3s and make sure everyone believed in MP3's inferiority to CDs.
That said, the RIAA labels have pissed me off to the point where I only buy indie; the last dozen CDs I've bought have been from bar bands.
-mcgrew [kuro5hin.org]
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And even with having SHNs and FLACs, yuo still don't get the cover art, liner notes, or other things. The music industry is ironically showing no imagination whatever (funny that for
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Anyway, I guess giving away concert tickets with records would be great marketing, it's just that it's an entirely different economy, with other companies and other interests involved. Yes, a show is great promotion for an artist, record sales wise, but that show has to be pret
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I pity people with that attitude. Most people really ARE honest, at least with people who are honest with them. But if you make them think you're trying to get one over on them, look out! That's the biggest problem the record industry faces - they're thievs and scoundrels who think that everyone else is a thief and scoundrel.
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There, fixed that for you. There's lots of smaller labels who have "got it" all along, but they're just smaller ones, and you don't hear their music on the radio, or on the TV. There's plenty of good music on the smaller labels, and if people actually had any convictions, the RIAA would have gone bust many years ago, and their member companies wouldn't have been able to sell any music. The point is that most people don't know or don't care about the RIAA tactics. My biggest question is what happens to EMI now if they do this? Will they still be able to get as much radio play their music on a regular basis? Will their bands still get invited on the talk shows? How far does the power of the RIAA really extend?
Re:Tag this (Score:5, Interesting)
RIAA's power will decrease after this.
How about radio play, talk shows? I think it will be business as usual - if the other big music corporations will ignore this. If they will lobby the radio stations, it might be possible that EMI loses some air time.
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Promotional bookings. No change. Not one dollar to RIAA goes to artist development and support. Bookings relate to popularity, availability, and when all things are equal, if the program is a booking agency's package, then musical artists represented by that agency move to the front of the line.
Radio is a more complex question. Do the radio stations believe that digital music increases or decreases their listenership? How much radio programming is actually based on the artists the big labels sell? While th
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The answers to both those questions depend on whether a radio station is owned by Clear Channel [wikipedia.org] or another media conglomerate...
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Try to think of one person you know that isn't aware of the RIAA's lawsuit campaign. Then ask them, and you'll probably be surprised.
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I haven't bought any of the big labels' music in a long time, nor have I downloaded it. The rare occasion that I listen to the radio (usually in someone else's car), I realize I haven't missed much...
I wonder how much percentage of the drop in record sales is due to people who simply stop listening to the music these record companies prod
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Actually, piracy is one of the biiggest reasons I stopped buying RIAA music - I'm boycotting the majors because of their suits against their "pirate" customers. Of course, since I don't like much of what's on the radio these days either that nmakes boycotting that much easier. I've found that the local bands and their CDs are hgeads and shoulders above the RIAA dreck, while 1/4 to 1/2 the price.
The indies are the "
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I'll never trust them enough to buy ANYTHING form them again. One of the "features" of their trojan was degradation of other software; software I used for legal purposes. I ranted [mcgrew.info] about it is quite some detail a couple of years back when my daughter, who worked in a record store at the time, played a Sony-BMG title in the computer.
If they would do that to a music CD, what would they do to a Sony laptop or a Sony TV
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I don't buy your argument, I guess. We had video games (Atari, Nintendo, Sega, TurboGrafix), we had movies (on VHS), we had designer clothes, snacks... the only thing that we didn't have on your list is cell phones!
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Sir, you're now welcome to my friends list!
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He paid $4k to the record company for his son's downloading at college, even though he didn't even know what downloading was! He likens it to a $7k bill he had for fixing a broken sewer line. No clue why he's paying but was advised to do so by a lawyer.
-mcgrew
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This is a myth which is often driven by the amount of payola in the industry. If the RIAA lables owned the airwaves, there would be no need for payola. Payola is to get a larger percentage of RIAA label stuff played to displace other music.
Want proof. If you listen to the radio much lately, I'm sure you have heard most of the popul
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I'm currently staying in Kentucky where we're almost overrun by rednecks and the other day I was driving and saw an old beat up pickup truck with a "no RIAA"(the little slashie circle thingy) sticker. This wasn't a college kid, this was a regular person driving his truck.
Nobody ever won a war w/ their customers (Score:2)
Wrong Question (Score:2)
I miss Allofmp3.com
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Hm...
That may actually work. If all labels do it the sharing as we know it will be dead in 3 years time.
You are right - it is common sense. If you compare technology and R&D with the "Close Blast Doors, Activate Press Grid, Launch Lawyers" option it is definitely cheaper and better return on investment. Especially when you are dealing with your current and potential customers.
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Hm...
That may actually work. If all labels do it the sharing as we know it will be dead in 3 years time.
Very, very unlikely. The common consensus in cryptography research is that DRM does not work and cannot work. For example music can easily be recorded in analog fashion. All current soundcards will happily record from analog outputs. Personalizing the music will not help. Watermarking is, at best, problematic and a
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Congrats to EMI for waking up, but it's too little too late. Their business model is dead.
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The old (modified today by me) joke goes "what do you call a busload of RIAA lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start."
They're only STARTING to get it. When they stop being members of the RIAA and IFPI then we'll have something. Cutting funding? How about NOT FUNDING AT ALL??
Re:Breaking RIAA contracts (Score:2)
What I want to know is how tight is the contract with the devil. In other words, if EMI decided to withdraw completely from the RIAA, do they have the same problem the artists have withdrawing from a label? Do the labels get to keep the music, or is the old stuff still RIAA protected property?
If EMI drops the RIAA completely and it removes their entire catalog from the RIAA contracts, I may find them listed on the SAFE section of t
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I like that EMI finally has 1) admitted that the lawsuits were a bad idea and 2) are actually planning to do something about it.
I do feel EMI should go a step further, though - and cut ties to the RIAA outright. If they were to form a separate legal group to represent their interests, it would really drive the point home that they've learned their lesson. Right now, I still suspect what they're
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Um, no. From TFA:
Equity fund managers are basically beancounters. When the new beancounter overlords looked over the returns from the 'investment', they saw the 'investment' was a waste. The new beancounter overlords aren't record company
one down, three to go! (Score:2)
Re:one down, three to go! (Score:5, Insightful)
Considering that EMI never said what was in the blurb and it was a blatant misrepresentation?
perhaps DRM will go the way of prohibition
The thing is that prohibition really didn't go away and the war on drugs is the remnants of prohibition. You were conned into thinking that we won some great victory when, in fact, we merely gained back the "right" to what they could tax.
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Maybe if these substances were free of their black market status they'd lose their allure.
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They still can be used to make a decent living, but it will be ordinary commerce because of much reduced profit margins. No shooting or gangs involved. But I guess this "war on drugs" is basically a PR thing, just as the "war on terror". Both do increase the problem while pretending to decrease it.
Re:one down, three to go! (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, I don't think that's a bad analogy. Making liquor illegal only drove liquor production and distribution underground, brought about the rise of organized crime (remember Al Capone?), and probably increased the amount of alcoholism prevalent at the time. Face it -- if the liquor supply is limited, and you know where to get it, you're going to try and get as much of it as you can. Same thing is happening to music -- making file sharing and ripping illegal is simply driving the illegal file sharing economy, and it's costing the music industry far more money to try and stamp it out than it would be to embrace it and try to work with buyers.
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My late grandmother was born a few months before the Wright Brothers took off at Kitty Hawk, my grandfather was born in 1896 (the same year as Michelob beer) and they were young adults during prohibition. Grandpa had a beer making kit in his barn.
Grandma told me that before prohibition, the only
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I hate to break it to you, but prohibition [drugfree.org] and all the damage it causes society, from the violence of the gangsters to the huge numbers of nonviolent offenders in prison, is still with us.
-mcgrew
PS- DRM on music can never work [kuro5hin.org]
Change (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Change (Score:5, Insightful)
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On the contrary, I understand what the quote means, I believe you are too narrow in your reasoning. It is possible that while the ideas (values) of the hypothetical liberal in question haven't ch
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Huh? No, the reason little Johnny can't spell for shit is the same reason he doesn't know any history or math or science: because the schools aren't teaching anything. "Phonics" is crap. The only way to learn spelling in English is to memorize every single word, though it helps some to learn Greek and La
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Deceptive Summary (Score:5, Informative)
-Peter
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Bailling out? (Score:5, Funny)
Too late.
"reportedly considering" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"reportedly considering" (Score:5, Interesting)
"Considering" cutting RIAA funding is nothing more than a slick PR move. Until they actually reduce their contributions, they're just as guilty as any of the other big players in the music biz.
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Then again, EMI is the one who cut the deal with Apple to sell non-DRM tracks online.
It's not definitive proof, but it shows that they've been taking a different approach than other labels.
just give it time (Score:3, Insightful)
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Perhaps they should take lessons from prostitutes?
"considering" (Score:3, Insightful)
You know "Mr. Overpaid Exec #1" at RIAA will call "Mr. Way-Overpaid Exec #2" at EMI and say something like 'Hey Bill, we'll try to fuck you guys up a little less next year. Promise. Besides, I my kid's going to for her degree in basket weaving and I need to make sure I get my raise to pay for that and the new ferrari'
So instead EMI coughs up extra cash this year for the MAFIAA to "change tactics" whereby they sue...everyone!
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No, but then who really expected EMI to drop DRM either?
EMI is a wounded animal prone to doing all sorts of things that other people in the industry would consider crazy, but that the rest of the world has been saying record labels need to do to stay viable. They're losing money, their market share is sinking, and they need to do whatever they can to both tighten their belts and get some good PR.
I'd give this about a 50/50 chance of actually happeni
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The only thing he cares about is getting a decent return on his investment into EMI. And seeing EMI dump millions of dollars down the money pit of litigation is making him upset.
Think of it like downsizing. Company spending too much on x, so cut x out of the picture. Hey, look! More profits.
Okay, time to 'fess up... (Score:4, Funny)
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Damned straight, we owe that guy many many MANY beers.
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Amazing (Score:2, Insightful)
Don't start patting ourselves on the back yet. (Score:3, Interesting)
Never underestimate the tenacity of unemployed lawyers.
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Could you please explain how this would work? How can stock price drive bankruptcy?
It's not common sense, it's lack of money (Score:3, Insightful)
Guy Hands, chairman of EMI, has told potential investors the group's former management squandered around 100 million pounds on corporate excesses. Terra Firma, Hands' private equity firm, is expected to make major changes to senior management and transform the culture of a company considered to be stuck in the glory days of the music business. Industry observers say Hands will try to blame previous management for the firm's woes because he has paid over the odds for a business struggling to cope with a dwindling market.
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/media/article2963629.ece [timesonline.co.uk]
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/27/in-winning-emi-is-guy-hands-losing-out-on-other-deals/ [nytimes.com]
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/08/cnemi108.xml [telegraph.co.uk]
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Guy Hands is not some nice benevolent guy. He is a ruthless cash making machine.
"....Whole business securitisation:
One of the typical UK innovation is securitisation of whole business cashflows, also known as principal finance, or securitisation of operating company cashflows. This device largely goes to the credit of Guy Hands of
Actually I think EMI may have gotten it! (Score:5, Informative)
I also think EMI has realized that they no longer need the RIAA because of the power of the internet. It's good business to rid yourself of a marketing company who does nothing but put your company in the bad light. Publicly decry them, and embrace the way people want things.
Right now that is GOLD. People are starting to look for Non-DRM (and I mean the average consumer, not you and me). The average person buying their music is buying it for an Ipod and noticing how much of a pain in the ass it is to rip it just to get it on there.
Maybe EMI, is realizing that the people who are stealing weren't going to buy it anyway and that there's a tremendous opportunity for the first major record label who steps forward and waves off DRM laden music. Cost of doing business in the digital world is that people will always steal your product. Microsoft learned this by trying to lockdown windows and that failed. People just manually downloaded the patches around the "automatic update".
The problems their "DRM" did by checking new installs of windows if you reformatted and had to deal with the hassle of speaking to an indian who couldn't speak english... you get the idea... it just wasn't worth it financially. It hurt them.
Maybe they realize that the power is no longer in their hands once they release a product. Perhaps they realize it's better to encourage people to buy it, who WANT their music.
If I was a record label I'd offer the music in several different formats. Typically CD quality download, mp3 (slightly cheaper), HD (for the audio connoisseur, and then on physical media still. Some people love their physical media.
That's what people want. Make it available like that, without some DRM scheme. You'll win in the end because the people who are stealing your product, weren't going to buy it in the first place. You need to target the people who are willing. Because... you know? The people who are stealing it... will always find a way. It only takes 1 copy to hit the internet... and you can't stop that from happening, no matter what you do.
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Let me just say... (Score:2)
I know there were a few lawsuits but this? (Score:5, Interesting)
including the close to 30,000 file-sharing lawsuits filed by the record labels in the US alone.
I mean, this is way worse than what I thought it was. I thought it was a handful, you know the ones you hear about in the news. But 30,000 means a lot and a whole lot of work for the legal system (this means that 1 in every 500 lawsuits in the US or 0,2% comes directly from the RIAA). This could be used for other cases we are already overloaded with like drugs, robberies, fraud (identity theft for example), money laundering and other crimes that affect more people than a few copied cd's.
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I'm considering buying an AirBus A380 (Score:2, Funny)
Doesn't mean I can or will do any of it, though.
It has had an effect (Score:2, Interesting)
The new stuff the RIAA is worried about still gets pirated like mad. The older stuff just is not s
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http://btjunkie.org/search?q=Olivia+Newton+John [btjunkie.org]
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They "may" cut funding? (Score:5, Insightful)
So far it's just talk. And talk is cheap.
Agree:Talk is cheap, EMI! (Score:3, Interesting)
Exactly! This reminds me of a joke, apparently about a maintenance repair request form filled out by an Air Force pilot. These forms have a spaces under the headings "Request" (filled out by the pilot) and "Action Taken" (filled out by the mechanic). This particular one reads:
REQUEST: Left tire on landing gear almost needs replacement.
ACTION TAKEN: Left tire on landing gear almost replaced.
Wake me up when EMI actually does something.
Great, now back them up with some economic force. (Score:2)
We can all get warm fuzzy feelings over this, but that will do little good to encourage these sort of decisions. Vote with your dollars and buy music from EMI if they end up cutting back their cartel involvement.
I must of lost track of time.... (Score:2, Funny)
That puts an upper limit on their intelligence. (Score:2)
Translation: Record executives are sometimes really, really dumb.
LOL.
EMI + Advertising Supported Music (Score:2)
I'm guessing this is all about (Score:2)
I bet the record companies actually expected, or were even told by the RIAA, that there would be a long-term profitable return from collected fines in return for their relatively small support payments. This has turned out to not be the case both because the RIAA is run by total incompetents and that they are finding out that more people than they expected just won't be bullied so they actually have to work for their
Redirection of funds. (Score:2)
Like on increased royalties for the artists, right?
Guys? Right?
long pause
wankers
Not bad guys (Score:2)
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Oh, the poor record executives and lawyers, they're so misunderstood.
Not. The record labels declared war on the consumer when the RIAA started taking consumers to court. If that's cost them a few hundred million dollars and some egg on their faces, too fucking bad. Now it seems like EMI's starting to get the picture, and that's good -- but that's one of several, and there's no sign yet that the other labels are going to change their tune.
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Re:Not bad guys (Score:4, Insightful)
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Why does this not surprise me? (Score:2)
And a good CFO takes whatever action he deems is likely to put up the help wanted signs.
--
Cheers, Gene
"There are four boxes to be used in defense of liberty:
soap, ballot, jury, and ammo. Please use in that order."
-Ed Howdershelt (Author)
If your OS needs a virus detector... RUN!!!
I don't know about this. (Score:2)
Won't somebody think of the lawyers?! If EMI reduce funding to the RIAA and IFPI, then lawyers are going to earn less, so surely reducing funding ought to be illegal?
What if everyone stopped funding their lawyers, how would they make a living? It's not like they could just go do non-evil stuff. They shouldn't have to!
This reducing of funding of lawyers must be stopped or a whole industry will go under! I propose a new special interest group, something like the Lawyer's Industry Ass. of Reduction Stoppag
I WILL REWARD EMI (Score:2)
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Step on up, folks! There is a sucker born every minute and we have one right here for your amusement!
It seems that you really don't understand the RIAA's role in this game do you? The RIAA could not have sued on the label's behalf without the blessing of the label! Are you really going to be one of those rubes who thinks that EMI was misrepresented by the RIAA? The RIAA is EMI's customer, not the other wa
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Although EMI's actions appear to be a good move, for me it is far too late. Because of the actions the record labels have taken (either directly or via their agents) I've drastically reduced the amount of music that I buy, and I tend to choose music that is not on a major label.
I think the major reason for the drop in record sales is that the days of people rebuying their existing collection in the CD format are long over. Now most music sales have to be generated from good new music that give people a re
Re:Ethically responding to RIAA companies. (Score:4, Informative)
Secondhand or downloading (Score:2)
Personally, I think this is a workable idea - the artist gets some money that would otherwise be kept by the label using Hollywood accounting. It may not align with the whole diva/rock god image, but a Paypal link on an artist's homepage couldn't hurt them.