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November 09, 2006
Music ransom
Music ransom: Microsoft pays Universal Music for every portable music device they sell. The history of Universal Music is quite revealing. You can't buy a Zune without Universal Music getting its rent... I wonder how much any of the original Motown studio musicians will see from this deal... probably more will go as bribes to programmers on commercial radio stations, for inserting ideas into the public's head. Doesn't matter what's on your own device, nor how you paid for it -- if you buy a Zune, you're paying the UM organization. Wrong-o-rama. Maybe opensource manufacturing will break this logjam. Meanwhile, in Wild Side vs Web 2.0, Lou Reed tells all the VC seekers to shut up: "I can turn the sound louder and really hurt you." Where's Kim Jong-Il when you really need him...?
Posted by JohnDowdell at November 9, 2006 07:05 AM
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Comments
Wow... comments at Engadget are fiercely negative, with high volume.
The comments seem slightly tamer at Slashdot... this news seems to mean different things to tech-heads and gadget-heads.
(Slashdot also links today to a related story: "A 73-year-old bar manager who illegally performed copyrighted tunes by the Beatles and other artists on the harmonica was arrested Thursday on suspicion of violating the Copyright Law, police said. Arrested was Masami Toyoda, of Tokyo's Nerima-ku. He has reportedly admitted to the allegations against him. Investigators accuse Toyoda of illegally performing 33 songs such as the Beatles' songs 'Here, There and Everywhere' and 'Yesterday,' whose copyrights are managed by the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers. He allegedly performed the songs on the harmonica with a female pianist at the bar he operated between August and September this year.")
Posted by: John Dowdell at November 9, 2006 11:29 AM