Wednesday’s Music Briefing: Another Music Service, TourTracker, YouTube $’s & More
TODAY’S HYPEBOT FEATURES:
4 Pillars Of The Band & Fan Relationship- eMusic upgrades while dissing competitors. Plus commentary,
- MySpace Adds Eventful Data Share, Open ID & More
- Check out our new Music Industry Job Board
- Mobile revenues offer a bright spot
- Mercury Prize 2008 Nominees
> UK. broadcaster and broadband provider BSkyB has formed a joint venture with Universal Music to build an MP3 store and unlimited download subscription service for the U.K.and Ireland. Sky is also in 
discussions with other major and indie record labels. (press release)
> Some experts are attacking the extension of EU copyright ownership to 95 years saying it will only pad the pockets of "record companies, aging rock stars or, increasingly, artists’ estates. It does nothing for innovation and creativity." (ars) Ouch! How long do you think is fair?
> AOL Music and American Express have launched Tour Tracker with band dates from Jambase and MapQuest provides the maps. There are also band info, discussion groups and perks for Amex members. (Tour Tracker) A very quick tour found the listings (or the search function) to be lacking.
> Avril Lavigne earned $2 million from having her videos on YouTube. (Guardian) And thanks to forward thinking manager Terry McBride of Nettwerk she gets to keep most of it.
> TiVo is teaming with Amazon for a point and click service to allow users to purchase products that they see on TV. (ars) Gee that appearance on Late, Late, Late Night could actually boost sales.
In regards to how long copyright should be:
http://newmusicstrategies.com/2008/07/19/how-long-should-music-copyright-be/
Summary: 5 years, with an optional extension. Anything not renewed after 5 years automatically goes into public domain. I would add a stipulation that you can only renew a copyright 4 times, giving you a total of 25 years of government-backed monoopoly. That’s more than enough useful time to make money off a particular copyright and put some of the money back for retirement.
Before anyone goes ballistic, remember that the purpose of the copyright (at least according to the US Constitution) is “To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.”
Copyright gives creators their monopoly rights so they have a reason to share their creations with the public: the ability to make money from them. After that limited time, those works can be used by anyone to create further works. We’re looking at at least another 50-60 years before that becomes legally possible with any works created in the past 50 years and if Disney gets their way, this will become impossible for any of us during our natural lifetimes.
I will never understand why people think that extending copyright to “provide for artists while they are old” is any more valid than saying we should do the same for anyone else. SHould we pay retirement funds for an electrician because he wired our house correctly and we’re still using his work? Of course not! If creators are incapable of saving for retirement like everyone else, then they get what they deserve.
Not to mention that extending copyrights doesn’t really benefit the majority of arts (at least, music artists), since the copyrights are all owned by major corporations and they are the ones who have received and will continue to receive any perceived benefits from long copyright terms.