Media Companies Offer UK Unlimited Music … Or Else! 17/06/2009 by Intellectual Property Watch 1 Comment Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window)Media giants Virgin Media and Universal Music have teamed up to create the world’s first unlimited digital download service that comes with the blessing of content owners – though only for residents of the United Kingdom. Britons using Virgin Media’s broadband to connect to the internet will soon be able to download or stream any artist signed to Universal Music, for a monthly fee, and to keep that music “permanently and to store on any MP3 compatible device,” according to press releases available here and here. Virgin has said that it is also negotiating with independent labels in the UK to expand the available selection. To coincide with the new service, however, the companies plan to undertake several strategies to “educate” file-sharers, and has warned that those who fail to learn might temporarily lose internet access. If the service becomes popular, it could be seen as a proof that using flat-rate monthly fees for unlimited downloading is the media business model of the future. Music piracy is so common that to combat it companies have recognised they must offer a service comparable to the popular peer-to-peer file-sharing sites. The proposed service was welcomed by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), which among other activities defends copyright in the music industry. Share this:Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new window) Related "Media Companies Offer UK Unlimited Music … Or Else!" by Intellectual Property Watch is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
George at Techdirt says 21/06/2009 at 11:25 pm I am one of the oldest “pirates” out there. Back a few decades ago I recorded a LOT of music from the radio. I still have those recordings – reel to reel tapes, mono cassetes and later stereo cassettes. Over the years I used those COPIES of songs to find original copies I could purchase. I bought a lot of music, but there were many songs that I could not find or were “out of print”. Then along came Napster. In less than 1 hour my first time using Napster I located every song I was ever searching for (that were unavailable for purchase). But Napster also gave me a means to sample music that I otherwise would not have. I bought more music that year than any other in my 5 decade+ life. When Napster was ‘shut down’, and the RIAA/IFPI started suing people, I STOPPED purcahsing music. I’m not the only one. Had they prosecuted me way back when for recording from the radio like they are suing people these days, I would have never had an interest in music nor made ANY purchases. That’s what they are doing to their “future customers”. Their business model is broken. Everyone knows their game. The ONLY effective means they currently have for promoting new music is RADIO. Now they want to bite off the only hand that is feeding them. If the performance tax was not going to put 100s of businesses out of business, I’d say go for it. But the real problem is that musicians are highly underpaid and the lawyers at the RIAA are (over)paid. Reply