23 April 2007, 01:02
Warner calls sale of music downloads without DRM a 'flagrant violation'
Last week Warner got very displeased with an online store which tried to sell Warner albums without DRM. The site offers albums in MP3 format at a discount compared to a physical CD. Customers get MP3 files plus a CD could be shipped later as an option.
According to Reuters “Warner Music Group on Thursday demanded that online retailer AnywhereCD remove its digital albums from the site, saying the start-up had violated their agreement by selling Warner's music without copy protection software.”
It’s OK by Warner if the store helps customers to rip the CDs into MP3s but it’s not OK if those MP3s are without DRM. This way of selling music "flagrantly violates" the agreement between the label and the store.
Earlier this year Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman had expressed his views on DRM. "There is no reason to conclude that music is the one content category that should not or cannot be protected, simply because there is an unprotected legacy product available in the physical world," he said.
The service founder on the contrary claims that his store helps to boost the falling album sales as consumers have been lately choosing only individual songs for downloads form the stores like iTunes not the whole albums.
"My thinking was we should give consumers a reason to buy an album," he said. "If you buy the album then I'll give MP3 tracks pretty much what you get with CDs anyway."
Later that week AnywhereCD has taken the matter to court. According to Hypebot “AnywhereCD has filed a court complaint Friday against Warner Music seeking a declaratory judgment that AnywhereCD had not as WMG alleged breached its agreement with and has the rights to sell MP3 albums of Warner Music artists. The company is also seeks damages for business defamation, trade libel and breach of contract.”
The point of the story is not the store breaking contract obligations but Warner Music hoping that it can still prevent the industry change and make users buy DRM-ed albums online at a price equal to or higher than that of a physical CD.
Read more:
Warner Music wants unprotected albums off Web site, Reuters
AnywhereCD Answers WMG Attack In Court, Hypebot
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Comments 15
1. by Kota, 24 April 2007, 04:07
I'd rather not buy any music at all then pay "a price equal to or higher than that of a physical CD". I'm sure they're losing more customers this way then gaining, so why continue with the insane prices? Their loss, I guess.
2. by Scott, 24 April 2007, 17:24
...further proving my point that you should not buy music from artists on these labels who claim to be "protecting the artists", but are really screwing the customer base because they can't (and won't) adapt to the latest greatest technology.
3. by Seer, 25 April 2007, 01:28
Warner seems to be in a very big hurry to destroy itself. Let's root for AnywhereCD, even if they are just a stepping stone to a new model of distribution... er, well, actually THIS model of distribution :)
4. by g toroja, 25 April 2007, 02:43
This fools of Warner thinks that is a bad think music with no DRM, is their problem, if Emi and other big label begings to sell their music with no DRM, Warner are in the bad road, they loss.
5. by M. Collins, 26 April 2007, 03:24
Warner needs to wake up...
I, and millions [if not billions] of music fans everywhere have grown up buying records, tapes, and cassettes and taking the songs home as our personal possessions with only one string attached: we were not to sell recordings to anyone else. There was no DRM, no subsrciptions, and the music was ours.
Warner wants to rent us the music and make us pay through the nose for it. That's not going to work.
I WONT BUY MUSIC FROM ITUNES, RHAPSODY, OR ANYWHERE ELSE WHERE ALL THESE INVISIBLE STRINGS ARE ATTACHED!!!
IF I CAN'T BUY IT OUTRIGHT, I WON'T BUY IT AT ALL.
Warner and all the other music corporations want nothing else than a direct line to as much of my hard earned cash as they can grab.
When Warner and all the other music services realize that the'll sell more music [and make more money] when they remove DRM.... the online music business will shoot through the roof.
And when DRM is gone forever, I'll be happy to buy all the music I can afford...
6. by luke simpson, 26 April 2007, 16:46
just get music 4 free by downloading them. simple. who needs rubbish things like warner trying to sell us music. free free free free
7. by Harry S Baggs, 28 April 2007, 04:19
I actually don't have a problem with DRM, provided it is equitable and that means it has to be an open standard, ie the music I purchase can be used on any device, with a pricing structure that is up with the times.
The Apple model of utilising a proprietory DRM is anti competitive in that it forces users to only be able to play the music they purchase off iTunes on an iPOD.
The music industry needs to get its act together in seeing that DRM is not there to stop piracy but to ensure there is a revenue stream for the whole eco-system.
They think that they can then gouge the consumer by placing ridiculously high pricing on music that is DRM protected and downloaded.
They need to take a look at the most successful industry for Digital Downloads and that is the internet porn industry, they long ago embraced the idea of micro-payment to the point where you can subscribe to site for as little as $US0.50 per month an download to your hearts content, if you are so inclined.
AllofMP3.com has embraced this micro-payment practice as well and look at its success, instead of trying to close it down they, the music industry, should be taking a leaf out of the AllofMP3.com book.
Another thing with an open DRM and micropayment is, it also can introduce what is known as super-distribution. This is where a consumer can send music to a friend, and, if they like it, the DRM wrapper is still present and the receiver then pays for the key to open the file. This can happen many times.
The music company has not have had to do anything froma distribution standpoint but they are realising an extra revenue stream they would not necessarily get.
The best DRM that supports this is from the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA), it can not only support content on a PC platform but also on a mobile platform.
All I can sy is EMI is desperate, they are having monumental problems. The others are just beligerent and treating the music buying public as idiots, the problem is and they will eventually realise it is those idiots actually pay for the execs Jag parked in the numbers parking spot.
Finally, before I get jumped on, I have absolutely nothing to do with any DRM companies, I am involved in the mobile industry and an avid music fan who is just as much pissed off with the current situation as everyone else is.
8. by Wayne, 1 May 2007, 01:49
Sod all the record companies! Download a little programme called Tunebite, it removes all the DRM protection and converts files downloaded from Itunes, Napster to MP3. While sound is recordable, music can never be protected. The Record companies are just wasting there time. If I have to get music off Itunes, I run it through tunebite and distribute it to anyone who wants it. Record companies think we are thick!!!
9. by juztruckin, 1 May 2007, 10:19
What happened xrost/biz? Did they get shut down? It was the only way I knew of as a way to refill my balance at allofmp3!!!
10. by Bill, 1 May 2007, 14:23
Oh, yeah, great - now NONE of the payment refill pathways work (I've just tried them all). I realise that allofmp3 was made a particular target of the US as Russia applied for entry into the WTO but I'd thought that Russia's government wasn't obligated to pass the relevant legislation until June or July - and I hoped that allofmp3 would find some way in the interim to defeat the measures. It would seem not. Is this the beginning of the end for those of us in Asia/Pacific? Is my 5-year love affair with allofmp3 about to come to an end?
11. by Enrique Sanchez, 2 May 2007, 02:53
Same here my friend... I've been trying to refill my balance with every possible method but it seem impossible... it look like finally the great companies are about to win and shut down our dearest ALLOFMP3. This is simply not fair. Thank God I've found many other russian pages which still accept my credit cards and can compensate a little this problem. I hope everything works ou fine for ALLOFMP3.
12. by Derwent, 2 May 2007, 13:57
...other russian pages? Do any of you have a list..?
13. by camembert, 3 May 2007, 09:56
"The Apple model of utilising a proprietory DRM is anti competitive in that it forces users to only be able to play the music they purchase off iTunes on an iPOD."
Apple is a company of extremes: great innovation and great stupidity in market strategy. Of course their DRM system is counter-productive in the long term, but so was their prohibition on Mac clones: probably hundreds of billions of dollars lost in operating system sales due to that great idea alone. I'm not buying a Mac for $2K when I can get a Dell with similar power (albeit loaded with Windows) for $500 (though now Linux is an option...).
Record companies are dinosaurs who haven't yet realized the comet of the digital age has struck and brought about irreversible changes; they will either adapt to the new paradigm or die with their heads buried in the sand.
By the way, I've converted my DRM .m4p itunes purchases to universally playable non-DRM mp3s and CANNOT notice any decline in sound quality as a result--thus, I view the DRM issue with itunes as somewhat of a red-herring.
14. by mandruk, 20 May 2007, 22:20
What a pity about my favourite music download!! It's by far the only site I could get my songs at least 99.9% of the time. So, now what to do? Please help - I need Diana Ross's song "Young Mothers" to complete my album.
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