Big Music anti-piracy war
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p2pnet.net News:- Any lingering doubts as to whether or not the record label cartel has embarked on an all-out, across the board war against former clients to bludgeon them into buying &#39;product&#39; have been dispelled.
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We may see the end of protected music downloads, but it won't be Apple's doing, argues Bill Thompson
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We know what piracy debaters Lars Ulrich and Chuck D think of file sharing. But aside from the few who speak out publicly, musical artists typically sit out the rhetorical crossfire over copyright protection.
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The British music industry is to sue 28 internet users it says are illegally swapping music online. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) says it is targeting &quot;major uploaders&quot; - those who make music available to share free with others.
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Customers might not like the idea of technology that allows some uses of music (like copying iTunes downloads to their iPods) but forbids others (like copying the same song to another kind of music player). But until recently, it didn't seem to bother the executives behind these anti-piracy systems.
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Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharers in the UK could soon face legal action from the recording industry. Record companies in other countries have already started legal action against people sharing copyrighted music online.
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(InfoWorld) - Just because three major online music retailers bind their music stores to specific portable players doesn't make it acceptable, a Norwegian consumer group leading the charge against Apple's DRM (digital rights management) policy says. "ITunes Music Store and others are unfair to consumers no matter how many download services follow the proprietary approach," wrote Torgeir Waterhouse, a senior advisor at The Norwegian Consumer Council, in response to a letter written by Apple CEO Steve Jobs andÂ posted on the Apple Web siteÂ on Tuesday. Jobs examined why DRM exists and discusses alternatives to the current set-up in his open response to calls for Apple to allow users to buy songs from the iTunes store and play them on any device. Norway's consumer representative hasÂ threatened legal action against AppleÂ for violating Norwegian law by limiting iTunes customers to playing their music only on iPods. Consumer groups in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, France, and Germany haveÂ joined Norway's complaintÂ against Apple. Jobs points out that Microsoft and Sony also sell music that can only be played on their players, supporting a model that serves customers well with choice and a continuing stream of innovative products. He also suggests that groups like Waterhouse's "redirect their energies" toward convincing the music labels to sell music without DRM, technology that aims to restrict how buyers can copy or use the music. The four biggest record labels forced Apple to employ a proprietary DRM system as a condition of the agreement that allows Apple to sell their music, he said. Ideally, he said, the labels wouldn't require DRM. "This is clearly the best alternative for consumers, and Apple would embrace it in a heartbeat," Jobs wrote. While Waterhouse agrees that the record companies carry some fault for the situation, the iTunes music store and others like it are ultimately responsible. "They're still the company that's selling music to the consumers and are responsible for offering a fair deal according to Norwegian law," he said. Still, with his letter, Jobs' appears to have stirred up some additional pressure on the record labels to change their DRM policies. EMusic.com Inc., which claims to be the second largest music download site, only sells DRM-free music from thousands of independent labels. But the site would like be able to sell music from the four biggest labels. "We are hopeful the remaining four will one day join [the independent labels] by licensing their complete catalogs and reap the benefits of consumer demand," David Pakman, president and CEO of eMusic, wrote in a response to Jobs' letter. Even though Jobs didn't hint that a solution might be impending, Waterhouse appeared to see a glimmer of hope. "If this means that Apple is willing to the kick the lock in technology from the [iTunes/iPod] combination this is really good news -- news that should be put into action as soon as possible to bring us all one important step closer to a well functioning digital society," he wrote.
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The Motley Fool - War has been declared. Not the conventional type with the troops, tanks, and smart bombs, but an entertainment war for the &#36;3 billion global music player business. Creative Technology (Nasdaq: CREAF - News) has decided to move in against the giant Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL - News) in an attempt to capture a 40% market share for MP3 music players. In the three years since the iPod's launch, it has become the worldwide player of choice, claiming about 85% of the market, so to call this an uphill fight is something of an understatement.
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Written by Anna Masci The war on music downloads continues with an Australian ex-cop being sued by 25 International and six Australian Record Companies for a legal suit amounting to $500 million.
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The producers of a popular file sharing program have created the biggest system of Internet music piracy ever seen, the Federal Court in Sydney has been told.
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Phantom sales lost to piracy? Get over it. It's time for the music labels to pull those master recordings out of storage and make some money. Commentary by Eliot Van Buskirk.
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It's bad for business Column The DRM walls are crumbling. Earlier this week, Steve Jobs called on the major record labels to allow online music sales unfettered by digital rights management restrictions.â¦
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Then charges back out again The world's biggest record label is touting a scheme that would permit internet users to swap DRM-free music under a blanket license, according to a report. Universal Music Group's "TotalMusic" program would allow customers of ISPs who signed up to the program to exchange files freely - but only if the ISP signed up.â¦
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Record companies in the UK are for the first time to sue music fans who download tracks illegally from the internet. The British Phonographic Industry, the trade body for record labels in the UK, is to announce
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Say what you want about the recording industry&#39;s take-no-prisoners approach to combating online piracy. At least when the music czars go after someone, they target persons suspected of trading
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Let's see if digital pirates are willing to watch ads to get music.
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LOS ANGELES -  The music industry is looking ahead to life without copy protection. Major label EMI - home of Coldplay and Norah Jones - is in discussions with online music stores about selling its music without copy protection, or digital rights management (DRM), according to two sources with direct knowledge of the talks who would not speak for attribution because discussions are ongoing.