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Yahoo forces RIAA staff cutbacks…
===================================

Ok, not yet. But they are coming. I promise.

Not that I ever want to see anyone lose their jobs, but it will be
nice for music label employees to have all the subsidies they are
paying the RIAA go to their artists. (Yes you were supposed to laugh
at that one.)

As Barry Ritholtz smartly pointed out in his blog, the introduction of
Yahoo’s Music Unlimited Service sets the new marketvalue for all
the music you can download in a month…5 bucks.

The RIAA can no longer claim that students who are downloading music
are costing them thousands of dollars each. They can’t claim
much of anything actually. In essence, Yahoo just turned possession of
a controlled music substance into a misdemeanor. Payable by a $5 per
month fine.

Of course, RIAA staffers won’t go quietly into the night. They
will continue to scream loud and hard about evils of illegal
downloading. The question is, will they move the money they are
currently spending on court cases and filing suit, towards promoting
the new subscription services that are available. Particularly
Yahoo’s dirt cheap service.

Will they have the sense to say…”Ok kid, you are about to get
sued, which will mean we both spend money on lawyers, and then we kick
your butt in court and you pay a multi-thousand dollar settlement, OR,
you can sign up for any of the all you can eat music subscriptions,
Rhapsody, Napster or Yahoo Music. Your choice. 5 bucks a month. Or
thousands of bucks.

Will the RIAA mitigate circumstances and turn their efforts toward
promoting legal downloads, or will they still get their jollies from
suing their customers?

And what about our favorite back pocket politician, Orrin “but
Im a songwriter too” Hatch. What will he get on his knees for in
order to get money from the music industry? Could he possibly still
get worked up and spend our hard earned taxpayer money for crimes
whose total economic value is 5 bucks per month. (yes, you were
supposed to laugh again.) Will he try to induce people to spend the 5
bucks, or will he still think its necessary to destory users PCs?

How about this Orrin, why don’t you introduce a Utah Loves Music
bill, that requires every citizen of the lovely state of Utah (dont
laugh here, it really is pretty), to pay a $5 per month music tax? You
could negotiate a statewide discounted deal with Yahoo Music
Unlimited, grab a few bucks off the top for yourself and the state,
and you would have completely rid the entire state of Utah of illegal
downloading!

By offering music so economically, Yahoo has changed how the RIAA
should and can spread Piraphobia around the country. It should also
change the perspective our politicians have about the subject as well.
How can the Attorney General divert resources to save the music biz 5
bucks a pop? How can bills be proposed that try to save the music
industry 5 bucks a month?

Of course it won’t happen in a straight line. There are RIAA
jobs and political contributions to protect. And although the Yahoo
and other sub services are not perfect, they will get continuously
better and support more and more devices and have increasing
flexibility.

This is the low point for subscription services. Which is a good
thing. It’s going to get better and better every year.

Anyone want to show RIAA lawyers how to use Craigslist?

—See what the blogosphere is saying about Yahoo Music Service


Related Links
-------------

» Read
» Permanent link + Email this + Linking Posts + Reader Comments [84]
» Next Entry: Some Thoughts…. (5/21/2005)
» Previous Entry: Blog Spam (5/5/2005)


Recent Entries
--------------

» A quick note on Click Fraud (7/9/2006)
» Connected vs Disconnected Entertainment (7/9/2006)
» Criticism (7/5/2006)
» Im sorry for what I make you cover. (6/26/2006)
» another site I love ! (6/26/2006)


Reader Comments
---------------

This entry is no longer accepting new comments, but you are welcome to
explore the comments that made it in before we closed the door.

1. Posted May 17, 2005, 12:52 AM ET by Glen Wilson

Interesting comments as always, Mark. You are always enlightening me.

Let's Go, Mavs. Take game five in Phoenix!!!

2. Posted May 17, 2005, 1:17 AM ET by Josh J

I signed up for this service as well, and have been using it quite a
bit (I use it at work and home...i listen to an album every day +
"radio"). All-you-can-eat music for 5/month...i see value in that.

There's a ton of "radio" stations (commercial free) that can be
customized...all high quality and the ability to click and add (most)
songs to your music collection when you hear them.

The music player is kinda sketchy right now (its in beta), but all the
files are WMA and playable via WinAMP or WiMP. The DRM aspect
sucks...i move PC's quite a bit and its just a pain. However, the
music player has a fully plugin-izable API and is fully skinnable.

What pushed me to click the "buy" button was the post by Ian Rogers. I
read his Yahoo blog post, he works for Yahoo now...but was on the
original WinAMP team and those guys get my respect (mucho props to
Justin Frankel), they "got it". Ian is an IU grad as well, so how can
you go wrong with that ;).

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-FDuiCSg4eqinB8z.GGJ7TmAz?p=89

3. Posted May 17, 2005, 1:28 AM ET by Dave Johnston

The horse is so far out of the barn that the barn has been torn down,
the farm sold, and a "new urbanist" development has been built on the
lot.

I sat through a 'Town Hall' style meeting with the RIAA in Bloomington
(at IU) in 1999 (!) and we're still going round-and-round on all this.

1999!

How long does it take to digest all this? We're still fighting the
internet and it's 2005. They're still trying to make the boogey man go
away.

Yikes.

Dave Johnston
(fellow Weblogs, Inc. contributor)

4. Posted May 17, 2005, 1:55 AM ET by Charles

Wow, I wasn't even aware of this. But it's about time.

Reasonable pricing. What a novel idea.

5. Posted May 17, 2005, 1:58 AM ET by David Gratton

You said...
"the introduction of Yahoo’s Music Unlimited Service sets the new
marketvalue for all the music you can download in a month…5 bucks."

True but irrelevant - simple marketing gimick. I made a post on this
recently (http://www.davidrdgratton.com/archives/2005/04/why_music_sub…).
The relevant valuation is 5 bucks for all the "NEW' music you will
"consume" in a month. And let's face it that's about the right price
for many consumers: spend 60 bucks on new music a year on average. As
we get older "new' music competes with the "OLD" music that we still
like to listen to, so we will consume less and less music as we age.
It's not about becoming - uncool - though I know my 3 month old son
will ventually disagree with that statement in 13 years, it's about
getting our life's quota filled up with music. We only have so much
time in our lives to listen to music. Sorry folks you will NEVER
listen to 200,000 (I'm being very generous with that number) different
songs in your lifetime let alone a million. Not going to happen.

6. Posted May 17, 2005, 2:27 AM ET by Difster

Mark, how can you be so right on an issue like this and so wrong on
the issue of digital TV?

You are a walking contradiction.

7. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:43 AM ET by I.T.

Mark, although you have a point, your post is misleading. It's not
US$5 for all downloads you can get, those downloads are heavily
DRM-ed. you have to pay to Yahoo additional US$.75 for a "clean"
burnable song. That makes a huge difference.

8. Posted May 17, 2005, 6:07 AM ET by Amy

hahaha! I love it. A Craigslist mention!

I don't know who is worse...the RIAA or the people who want to take
Cookie Monster, blame him for obesity in children and make him eat
veggies and change his trademark song. My vote is for the overboard
political correctness. Forget those Free Winona (Ryder) or Free Martha
(Stewart) shirts, it's time for one that says Free Cookie Monster.

Wonder if the RIAA would come after me if I tried to download "C Is
For Cookie"

9. Posted May 17, 2005, 6:07 AM ET by John Montgomery

The Yahoo music service is great. It allows me to have access to
basically the entire music cd collection at Best Buy for the price of
5 cd's a year. That's insane. I love it. And to be honest with you,
the best thing is that I don't have to deal with stupid cd's. I can
change artists at the click of a button. As for those who complain
about "losing their music" if they ever stop subscribing, I'd like
them to honestly tell me how often they listen to a cd they purchased
more than three years ago. Maybe like once a year? The problem with
music is that you can only listen to a song so many times before it
becomes old and then you need something new to listen to. Yahoo does
the perfect job of overcoming that problem. I just hope they make
enough money to keep the service going.

10. Posted May 17, 2005, 7:29 AM ET by Adam

It's a great service for the price, I'm curious as to how the
royalties are split between artists for this service.

First you've got to split it between labels, then split between
artists. Is it split between artists evenly, based on amount of plays
or amount of tracks? Do artists even get to say which tracks are
allowed on the unlimited service?

Don't get me wrong, for the consumer this is a great service and well
worth the money. I'm just curious as to how people get paid under this
system.

11. Posted May 17, 2005, 7:54 AM ET by Mike

Mark,

Thanks for being on the cutting edge of knowledge.

I don't get as much info for free anywhere else.

Maybe we should buy Yahoo ?

12. Posted May 17, 2005, 8:25 AM ET by Gordon

Mark said: Anyone want to show RIAA lawyers how to use Craigslist?

Hell no. I LIKE Craigslist :--D

13. Posted May 17, 2005, 10:28 AM ET by Jeffool

Hey Josh J. Thanks for the post to Ian Rogers' blog. Great post,
though admittedly I got a caveat early in his post to not try Yahoo!
Music Engine:

"(If you're using Foobar2000, keep on, brother man, I ain't going to
war with y'all purists.)"

14. Posted May 17, 2005, 10:37 AM ET by Jason (Go Pacers)

Yeah, I want to subscribe to something where all you are really doing
is renting the music. So if somethign better comes along, or you find
another service, or you can't even afford it anymore, all the music
you "downwloaded" now won't play.

Sorry, no thanks. I'll go with a service where I can actually OWN the
music I'm paying for, not rent it.

15. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:33 AM ET by Chuck Lawson

Nice post!

I wonder how long will it be before Yahoo offers a similar answer to
the MPAA?

16. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:35 AM ET by T

Great comments Mark. The RIAA represents the common tact that many
organizations take: if you can't beat em, sue em.

17. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:50 AM ET by Steven Gallo

I think its great. When will the RIAA wake up and listen to what
consumers really want. I could be wrong but, isn't telling consumers
what they want unamerican?

Unfortunately for me I am ipod owner. That means i can get all the
music I want on my pc for $5. However my handy little portable device
I have to pay a buck a song to carry around. I guess that is what i
get for my first Apple product.

I hope that these types of services really take off and the gang at
itunes changes its setup.

18. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:52 AM ET by Steven Gallo

I think its great. When will the RIAA wake up and listen to what
consumers really want. I could be wrong but, isn't telling consumers
what they want unamerican?

Unfortunately for me I am ipod owner. That means i can get all the
music I want on my pc for $5. However my handy little portable device
I have to pay a buck a song to carry around. I guess that is what i
get for my first Apple product.

I hope that these types of services really take off and the gang at
itunes changes its setup.

19. Posted May 17, 2005, 12:33 PM ET by Dan Carbrey

The service is much improved on competing formats but I still think it
needs some fine tuning.

20. Posted May 17, 2005, 12:44 PM ET by Matt ODonoghue

Mark,

Great post. Please keep ripping on the Music Business. I work part
time in the biz. The utter inefficiency and absolute denial of
technology from most in the biz never ceases to amaze me.

The Yahoo Service is a huge step. But...Don't you think consumers will
still want to own their music long-term? or Will they be satisfied
with renting it for 60 bucks a year?

Matt

21. Posted May 17, 2005, 1:10 PM ET by michael

One major catch is the annoying DRM. The RIAA will be reduced to
making sure that everyone's music has DRM support and we will be
reduced to using sub-standard hardware. I for one refuse to use any
DRM music. if im paying for it i sure as hell ought to be able to put
it on whatever device i own.

22. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:05 PM ET by David Burrows

$5.99 a month sounds like a great deal except that you still have to
pay .79 a song to move it to a cd, portable player, etc. I use most of
my music on the go - car, mp3 player, plane, bike, etc - not at my PC.

At this point, I'll stay with my iTunes platform for now. (plus my
ipod is a cool reptile green).

-d

23. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:12 PM ET by Chicago Joe

#9 - most artists don't make a dime off of sales of physical music or
digital for that matter. Why do you think a concert ticket is so
expensive? How about a tshirt at said concert? That's where 95% (or
more) of artists make their money.

#6 - because he has a vested interest in digital tv.

#17 - There are many ways to strip the drm AND convert the music you
download from these types of services into mp3's (which are still
playable on every digital player available...even the ipod).

#20 - I couldn't agree more. However, I like to sign up for the
Napster trial of the same feature, download and strip all the files,
then cancel prior to being charged as a big FU to the industry for
years of gouging.

24. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:26 PM ET by mycquester

Everyone makes valid points but here's what I want to know. We
understand that the RIAA reps the music industry and the artists are
the real victims. Why not remove the middlemen? Allow artists to
create their own music and have Yahoo/Napster and other like companies
pay them individually for the music produced. We can still have the
expensive concerts. What Mark is doing for the movie industry needs to
happen to the music industry. All those music exec's that have been
reaming the artists of their true value now become jobless and can go
to a training class on "How to use the Craigslist".

25. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:27 PM ET by Peter Mayer

I find it rather humorous that the recording industry pigs who have
screwed more atrists than Wilt did women are crying the blues. In this
age of rapid paradigm shifts, the record companies can no longer
artificially controll the music business. Go gentle into the night,
the world would rather watch Ricky Henderson attempt his long shot
comeback then hear you cry that you are being stolen from

26. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:33 PM ET by Chicago Joe

#23 good points. Some artists are already going this route in one form
or another (Wilco), while others (Linkin Park) are currently fighting
to be able to go this route.

Remember right before Prince changed his name to...whatever that
was...he wrote the word "slave" on his face? This was one aspect he
was bitching about.

27. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:36 PM ET by Adam

"#9 - most artists don't make a dime off of sales of physical music or
digital for that matter. Why do you think a concert ticket is so
expensive? How about a tshirt at said concert? That's where 95% (or
more) of artists make their money."

They do, royalties. Everything gets them money; radio airplay/album
sales/etc.

Some artists do get paid a salary but alot just have a minimum amount
not a minimum for royalties.

I'd also like to point out Musicnet, the service that provides Yahoo's
music was purchased by a venture capital firm before this deal,
previously it was owned be a consortium of the big music labels. It
does seem rather odd during that time I have known multiple people
(myself included) contact musicnet with the aim of being able to
distribute digital music files and nobody received a reply before the
takeover. After the takeover, most replies are meant with swift and
friendly replies saying how they're always interested in new
distribution partners.

Maybe we should get CSI involved on this

28. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:42 PM ET by Rob Thrasher

Hatch, will not, and can not, as a politician think like a business
person. Cookie monster will fall off the wagon. My kids will get fat.
My daughter, now four WILL try to convince me one day that low rise
pants are fine. My son, now 11 will not mow the lawn as often as it
needs it. The glass is half full or empty, depending on its status
prior to your actions. Isn't reality a kick in the ass Mark??!?!
http://www.xmmailserver.com

29. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:54 PM ET by Chicago Joe

How much moeny do you think an artist gets in royalties from a CD or
download, almost nothing. Especially if they owe the label for an
advance, which almost all receive. Further, how dwindled is that
royalty when your only paying $5 per month for a subscription service.

Don't be fooled by the RIAA's scare tactics and propaganda of
"fighting for the artist's rights." It's all a bunch of crap. They
fight for the labels rights. Trust me, I used to work for a major
label, I've seen the figures.

30. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:55 PM ET by Mark

A downside is that the RIAA goes after the uploaders (or at least they
claim to try to do this...). They could still claim that there were
100,000 downloads... which at $5 a pop is still a significant chunk of
change for most folks.

I'm not sure there's anything here. It might be an interesting
argument to make in court, but someone would actually have to go to
court instead of settle and I don't think the RIAA is picking on
anyone with pockets deep enough to actually litigate.

31. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:55 PM ET by Jeff

I read a quote from Dave Chappelle a few days ago regarding why he has
taken refuge in S.A. He says that when you get rich, you dont change,
but rather the people around you change. All the rich mans friends
become yes-men, and no one will tell him when hes wrong. This looks to
be how this comments section is. People foaming at the mouth to
congratulate Mark on how right he is, and what unquestionable insight
he has. Well, Mark is wrong folks (on this point). Marks insight into
this scenario is that the RIAA is suing people who DOWNLOAD music, and
this is completely false. The RIAA is suing people who UPLOAD music
(Not a SINGLE downloader has been sued.. its true!) The people who
partake in this (uploading) are distributing files to entire networks,
and the RIAA has lost control over how they distribute music. (because
as we all know, its all about CONTROL) The premise in court is (right
or wrong) that the Music Industry is losing thousands per UPLOADER.
That is, each song available for download is being downloaded by
thousands of people, and each of those downloads costs the RIAA
membership the sale of a CD. Thousands of downloads * CD sale = a LOT
of cash. I dont understand how he believes I can share Britneys new
single over the Guntella network (1.5 million people at last count:
www.slyck.com) and only be seen as distributing 1 file, and shes only
losing $5.00 in sales.

32. Posted May 17, 2005, 3:58 PM ET by Lance

You're looking at this in the wrong direction... Consumer vs provider.
If you're sharing then the RIAA math becomes this 100 unique hits per
month times $5 so you owe $500.00 per month.

33. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:00 PM ET by Brad Hutchings

Mark, The problem with your argument is that the RIAA isn't suing
downloaders. They are suing those who make music available for
download.

To those who bring up DRM being useless on file sharing networks. DRM
combats a different problem: casual sharing.

-Brad

34. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:02 PM ET by tpp

Jeff,

So the damages are not $5, but $5 per unique uploader / month.

That's still nowhere close to what RIAA is trying to extort out of
ordinary Americans.

35. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:11 PM ET by MackanZoor

Finally someone that launches a service just like the one we wanted.

Btw, your blog has been slashdotted.
http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/05/17/1737202.shtml?tid=98&ti…

36. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:13 PM ET by Chad Wood

#23, I like your sentiment but I think it's a bit unrealistic. First,
artists don't make the recordings you hear by themselves. They make
them with producers, mixers, and mastering engineers, most of which
cost a good amount of dough to hire. Often, artists get fronted the
money for hiring these guys by... the label! And then there's the
issue of promotion. You wouldn't even hear about a lot of artists you
currently like if it weren't for all the money behind getting their
names out there.

I'm all for cutting out a lot of the industry crap that ends up
screwing both the artists and the fans, but I think realistically the
kinds of "power to the people" changes in the music industry that many
people advocate will in essence change the music itself. Radiohead
would have a hard time producing the kinds of albums they do if they
hadn't had label money to get them off to a start. And for anyone
who's a fan of more straight-forward "pop" music (top 40 etc... I'm
not generally), that stuff is SO much a product of the current
industry... some of it just wouldn't be around. I don't think Rob
Thomas would have a solo album out if the industry wasn't as it
currently is. AND I think that would be awesome, but it's something
for the people who get turned on by the idea of having the whole Best
Buy CD collection at their fingertips (90% of which is probably crap)
to think about.

37. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:17 PM ET by NoClue

While I certainly agree with the idea of the article, there's still
more money they can milk from "pirates". With p2p, you've distributed
the files to people as well, so charge a person $5/month per person
who downloaded from them as well. Of course, if they're mp3s, they
don't expire. So, $5/month for the rest of each user's life. Trust the
RIAA to say they're all 10 year olds who'll live to 110 and that 10
people downloaded (parts) of the song from you, and then you're up to
10*100*12*5 = $60K.
They've never been suing for the value of real damages, just for money
and media coverage.

38. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:27 PM ET by roman bartocci

nice blog Mark, i wish more people thought like you do...

39. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:31 PM ET by hyp3r

It's a trap. By agreeing to the Terms and Conditions, you agree to let
them look at everthing on your computer.

Privacy Policy. Your personal information and information regarding
your use of the Service (including any Content) may be collected by
MusicNet, Yahoo or their licensors (including via automated means) in
order to validate and authenticate information provided by you and to
monitor your compliance with this Agreement and the Terms and
Conditions set forth on the Site

40. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:31 PM ET by KM

I don't believe the RIAA is fining for downloading music. They are
fining for 'sharing' music.. or rather the 'upload' side of P2P, and
not the 'download' side. They want to stop people from sharing,
although people have since they could do LP->tape and tape->tape at
home.

If you were sued for downloading, then damages could more easily be
valued. Download 100 songs, $1 each, damage is $100. The fines are
high because of the 'share'. If you share a CD ($15), and 1,000 people
download it from you, the possible damage is $15k. Then each person
who gets it from someone who got it from you, add $15. What Yahoo! is
doing is a download, so I don't really see how it equates to people
being sued by the RIAA for sharing.

Don't get me wrong. I think the RIAA is scum. Also, music these days
is mostly trash. I remember when I'd buy a CD and like 80-100% of the
music on it. Nowadays, you're lucky to like 30%. Who wants to buy
something you'll enjoy 30% of?

I'd rather someone make a case that it isn't illegal to share or
download music... only listen to it. It's not illegal to carry a
pencil, but it's illegal to stab someone with it. Digital music is
just that, digital. It's not really tangible, it's 1's and 0's. Nobody
is harmed or at a loss if you send me digital music.. they are harmed
(in some opinions) when you use the music. After all, nobody buys a CD
to not listen to it. Music has no value if not heard.

41. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:31 PM ET by Bryan Partridge

Mark for President.

42. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:31 PM ET by don

#9 - Rights for a song rarely lie with the artist alone. There are an
insane number of people who have to agree for something to appear on a
electronic service. There are several artists who refuse outright,
several labels who only do their own electronic services, etc etc.
Once something is approved, the distirbution of money goes very much
like the physical music world...everyone gets some sort of slice of
the pie, but only the big boys get big pieces....

#21 - Portable music devices that support the windows DRM are included
in the $5/month. $.79/track is for downloads/CD-burns that don't ever
expire. If you've got an ipod, yeah, you'd have to pay per track...if
you've got one of the Janus portable devices, it's just as much as you
can fit, no additional cost.

#25 - New owners = new money to spend

43. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:37 PM ET by MackanZoor

Oh and I just read a couple of comments, I still don't think it's
right for the R*AA to sue good people like myself for more than they
can afford when solutions like this are at hand.

I won't sign up on the Yahoo thingy because I live in Sweden but if
there was an easy way of paying $5 a month here for all the music I
wanted I sure as hell would do that.

So why aren't they changing things? Because they are making so
over-the-top much money already on the current system that they don't
have to. The suing is just to scare us to stick with the old and shut
up. Our downloading is a protest ladies and gents.

Beside, almost everybody share their stuff here in Swe after
downloading it. So a mp3 with a 1000 download locations all have been
uploaded hundred of times? No that's not it. The R*AA is closing their
eyes and picking a random person to bug, so the rest will hide.

We want to increase our life quality. But we don't want to pay up the
sums. They make more money than they can spend. There is a smart,
cheap system that will benefit the artist. R*AA tries to lower our
life quality.

If we don't put our foot down there will be no change. In the old days
they chop of heads, we continue to download music. For that makes our
voices echo.

44. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:48 PM ET by Nathan Tenney

#25 - Yes, the artists do make royalties on radio play of their songs,
on the sales of their albums and singles. Those royalties go first to
pay off the huge mountain of fees the RIAA and lables charge the
artist for things like studio time, creation of the masters, pressing
cd's, album artwork, distribution channels, and other assorted things.
Artists create albums, hoping one of 2 things will happen. First, that
this album will make it big. The realists understand that this only
happens to a very small percentage of artists, and if they're being
honest with themselves, they realize that it probably won't happen to
them. Second, they hope that at least one song will get enough play
time on radio stations, or will sell enough copies so that when they
do perform at a concert, they will sell enough
tickets/t-shirts/memorabilia to actually make some money to live on. A
good article explaining this (although a bit dated) is
http://www.janisian.com/article-internet_debacle.html

45. Posted May 17, 2005, 4:54 PM ET by Derek Martin

Not quite, Mark. I think it's all the music you can *stream* in a
month, not download. Of course, I only think this because their site
says that "burnable downloads" are $0.79 each, on top of the $5
monthly fee.

46. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:13 PM ET by Chicago Joe

#41 - If you read some of my other comments you'd see that I already
mentioned that, although not as thoroughly. I've seen the figures
first hand and I know how much most artists get from these
royalties...including the big boys. Like you said, unless it's the
biggest of hits, they don't make squat because they have to pay the
labels recoup fees for the advance. Hence they tour/clothing
line/vodka endorsments/energy drinks/shoe line/acting roles/guest
appearances on other artist's albums (which they get paid flat rates
for and only the largest, if any, will earn an even smaller percentage
of royalties).

47. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:17 PM ET by Al

At $5/month, that would place the maximum world wide value of the
global music industry at $360 billion/yr (6 billion x 12 months x
$5/mth). That of course assumes that every individual (infants thru
seniors) on the planet has an MP3 player and listens to what the RIAA
pedals.

More realistically the maximum value of english music would be $21
billion/yr. ( 350 million english speakers x 12 mths x $5/mth).

48. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:18 PM ET by the dude

Yahoo's 5$/month already exists in Canada. There is a tax on any
media(CDs), ipods, double-tape-decs ... and thus downloading is legal
as long as it's not for profit.

The USA is kind of in the stone ages with the RIAA, corrupt lawmakers
and unlimited lawsuits that translate into racketeering (pay a little
or we hurt you alot)

49. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:24 PM ET by Sarah

I couldn't agree more!

50. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:25 PM ET by Stephen W

If this was going to happen - then it would have happened with rapsody
setting fair market value. RIAA have never been about fair market
value - how can a single file cost them thousands? They'd have to
prove it had been downloaded thousands of times. Nice try - bets it
doesnt wash.

51. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:30 PM ET by Matthew Gregg

Mark makes a great point concerning how this will effect the RIAA and
lawsuits, however...
Services like this are great for listening to the lastest crap the
music industry is shoveling. For songs you listen to once and throw
away. I'll save the $5 a month and spend my $.79 a song from a service
that lets me download my music how I want, play the music how I want
and not one that takes all my music away when I stop paying.

52. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:55 PM ET by Nick

There are two types of music downloaders. Those that want ACCESS and
those that want OWNERSHIP. People that just want access can subscribe
to a service like Yahoo for $5/month (prepaid yearly) - however, this
price is most surely going to go up. Second, those that want ownership
will be pirating music until the recording industry delivers a
reasonable price. The way the industry currently stands - if an artist
could release their own music, minus marketing, packaging, label fees,
etc...you could be purchasing digital music for as little as $0.12 a
song! how bout it?

53. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:56 PM ET by Kunal Anand

Hey Mark, this comment is actually for your last post on comment spam
(CS). I believe that CS is both uncontrollable and inevitable. Entropy
rules that every system will go to hell, blogging included. However,
if you think about it, there are ways to help the process.

1. federated id system - users can roam the net and then rate comments
of other users. collaborative filtering can then be applied.

2. no comments allowed - don't give people an opportunity. but in your
case, you might as well live in a silo out in witchita.

3. use a system like slashdot - just hide anything below a user ranked
threshold. again, what's stopping spammers from perl raiding the
system.

Hey - now that you're on the task, maybe you can help us poor bloggers
out too.

54. Posted May 17, 2005, 5:59 PM ET by Kurt Moore

I dont agree.... here is why:
http://www.formulateaffinity.com/?p=55

55. Posted May 17, 2005, 6:03 PM ET by Charles Ballowe

Yahoo's service is, unfortunately, limited. I'd love to pay $5 for
unlimited downloads that can be transfered to the portable of my
choice. In this case - that is either an Apple iPod, or my car CD
player -- neither of which are supported by Yahoo's service (without
paying extra for burnable versions). It also lacks support for
platforms other than Windows. Until those are fixed, you can't call
the Yahoo! approach a universal download for $5/month mechanism. Would
be nice though...
I'd be happy to pay $5/month for an unlimited download license though
-- using clients of my choice on platforms of my choice.

56. Posted May 17, 2005, 6:06 PM ET by Mick 0

For everyone who whines about "renting music" I wonder how much they
have spent on CD players in their lives. I wonder when the next time
they will buy a CD player is... and why do they not have any problem
with investing in music that would all go away if they had to stop
buying proprietary-standard CD players.

Not to mention that you don't have to have one or the other -- i mean
its less than half the price of one CD. Are they claiming they buy
less than one CD every month? If so, then they really aren't music
lovers then are they?

57. Posted May 17, 2005, 6:27 PM ET by Anonymous Coward

Neat...Can I set up a new cable network that broadcasts all of the
Maverick's games if I pay them the cost of a season ticket? Sounds
fair to me.

58. Posted May 17, 2005, 7:43 PM ET by Blake

I think some of the people (not all) complaining about the Yahoo
business model don't fully understand the technology. True, your are
limited to a few portable devices at the moment, but that will change.
Secondly, there are no limitations on where you can use the music if
you use it right. You can use it on the PC, connect a PC to a stereo
system at home, download to a portable player for use on the go, and
use a wireless device to connect the portable player to your car
stereo for use in the car. I believe that about covers anywhere you
might go. I personally don't get the hang up on "owning" the music,
but I acknowledge that is my preference. But I do find I have so many
choices at my fingertips and the price can't be beat as I used to
purchase 10 or so CDs a year.

59. Posted May 17, 2005, 7:48 PM ET by Robb Jones

Mark, I got 3 words for ya brother...

You da man!

60. Posted May 17, 2005, 7:52 PM ET by Darrell

True, but only to a degree...the main problem with all of these
services vs. the iMeash, Kazaa, etc... is catalog. For example, Yahoo
has almost no Damien Rice music whereas Kazaa has hundreds if not
thousands....I think it is better stated that "pirating" from a
catalog with a selection equivalent to that of Yahoo's should have a
max penalty of $5.....

61. Posted May 17, 2005, 9:13 PM ET by Andrew

I liked the post, but it's .79 a download if you want to be able to
transfer it or burn it...
that would be agood idea though, a flat fee for unlimited downloads.

62. Posted May 17, 2005, 9:16 PM ET by George McGown

Only one little problem:

iPod Users: If you're an iPod user with a Windows-based PC, you can
transfer music you already own to an Apple iPod using the Yahoo! Music
Engine. Unfortunately, iPods are not currently compatible with the
Yahoo! Music Unlimited subscription service.

63. Posted May 17, 2005, 9:20 PM ET by MusicFan

Do you want the 'old school' Napster experience at $5/month?

Get an audio recorder like Total Recorder to record the streams from
the Yahoo service as they are playing. If Microsoft's Media Player
refuses to run or play these .WMV files with Total Recorder and their
ilk installed on your computer then get a second computer, connect the
soundcards together and record a DRM-free MP3 on the second computer
whilst taking a small loss in audio quality. If you have high end
audio cards with digital out/in in both computers, you'll have
PERFECT, DRM-free audio files on the second computer!

DRM is a joke. Just look at DeCSS.

However, TRUSTED COMPUTING is a clear and present danger to computer
users everywhere. Do your part and DO NOT BUY computers with TRUSTED
COMPUTING components in them.

Ask the seller if the computer you want to buy has TRUSTED COMPUTING
components in it. If they don't know or cannot/will not truthfully say
'No' then DO NOT BUY IT!

64. Posted May 17, 2005, 9:34 PM ET by Ryan

I have been a fan and subscriber to Rhapsody for two years now. For
$10, I get access to darn near everything, and that's all many of us
want. I just want to hear new music, and it just happens to be that 80
percent of my music-listening time is at a computer.

Save the disks. Save the space. Getting access to new music so I can
try before I buy? That's worth a measly $10 per month. I pay more than
that per month for the Playboy channel! (And I don't get to watch it
nearly enough.)

65. Posted May 17, 2005, 9:44 PM ET by Senor Pez

What's even better than this blog posting are the commments over on
Slashdot. Over 500 comments and I don't think a single one of them got
the point of your posting.

That being said, I'm signing up for Yahoo! Unlimited soon... call it a
preemptive strike against the RIAA. :)

66. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:12 PM ET by Ed

I feel record companies had their chance to give music lovers lower CD
and single prices or the ability to download music at a buck a song.
My perception is that their greed and short sightedness kept them from
being a part of the download / Subscription service future.

Five years ago, if I wanted Green Eyed Lady by Sugarloaf, I’d have to
either download using Napster etc... or pay 16 bucks for one great
song and a bunch of schmaltz. Go forward a couple of years and I get
my wish and download my favorite songs for a buck a pop. About a month
ago, I decided to try the Napster to go model and I won’t be looking
backwards (except for The Beatles and Zep; more on that later). I love
this model of getting music; I look at it as buying an album a month.
However with Yahoo really getting down and dirty, I’ll make the switch
and save a few bucks a month. Look at it as a chance to listen to
music you would never buy if it weren’t part of the service. I now
know that Linkin Park is really cool, Mariah Carey is better than I
expected, New Order’s new album is awesome, and rap still sucks. How
many times have you bought an album with high expectations (Any U2
album after Joshua Tree and before How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb)
and were disappointed by the results? The subscription model gives you
a chance to taste and keep or taste and hurl. Either way you win.

My only gripe about the subscription model is the lack of coverage for
truly classic rock bands. I don’t understand why The Beatles, most of
The Stones, and Zep isn’t offered. Is it the big bad record companies
holding on for as long as possible to make another buck on Hey Jude,
or is it the bands themselves that refuse to release the rights to the
Napsters of the world? Anyways, look out movie studios you’re next!

67. Posted May 17, 2005, 11:37 PM ET by Matt

Mark the key to the RIAA lawsuits is uploaders

Im using a pay per download service called Peer Impact that is beta at
the momnet also .And heres where the similarities to all the pther
piad services end

It is a pay p2p music service that has all 4 major labels onbaord
already and get this Peer Impact give you a credit of up to 5% of the
sale if someone uses your paid for content as a source of thier
download.Now that is better than any half assed rental model or iTunes
type stores.

The major labels reqiure Windows DRM on the Peer Impact but it seems
the indie labels they are dealing with are willing to offer
unrestricted MP3's for sale (hope the indies watermark the files to
protect thier arses).Peer Impact have plans to host video. and
software on the network also .

www.peerimpact.com

Maybe you should commit some copyright infingement Mark seeing you
have enough money to take the RIAA to court and maybe win.

68. Posted May 18, 2005, 12:27 AM ET by brett

James 5
Jas 5:1 Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that
shall come upon you.
Jas 5:2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are motheaten.
Jas 5:3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall
be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye
have heaped treasure together for the last days.
Jas 5:4 Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your
fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of
sabaoth.
Jas 5:5 Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye
have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
Jas 5:6 Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist
you.

69. Posted May 18, 2005, 5:24 AM ET by jsho12

Don't the music companies have the right to distribute their music as
they see fit? No one forces artists to sign with a label. For every
hit album there are lots more that don't recoup their investments.
Artists are not getting screwed - they are not assuming any economic
risk - the label is the only party losing money should the album fail.

Ask ANY investor if they would accept a deal where only the other
party can lose money while you get to participate (even if in a small
way) on the upside and see what they say. The only matter here is how
much the artist's labor is worth. But that is no different than a
venture capitalist funding an entrepreuner and making a killing if
it's successful or losing most/all of the investment if it doesn't pan
out. I don't hear this huge anti-establishment outcry over venture
capitalists screwing the creative and brilliant engineer.

Come on people - supporting downloading of copyrighted music isn't
about defending artists' rights. It is about wanting to keep getting
free stuff. I don't blame people but you ought to call downloading
copyrighted music what it is - STEALING.

Do you really think that if most people can keep downloading music for
free they will pay the monthly fee to get music which has DRM on it?
(Free and owning outright) vs. (not free and only renting).

70. Posted May 18, 2005, 7:08 AM ET by Carlo Rubini

Interesting comments and MIGHT just be convincing IF the purpose of
copyright law, and the lawsuits that enforce it, were to compensate
creators (and the companies who buy the creators' rights from them)
for their losses. But it is not. You get just the same copyright
minimum damages if you didn't lose a penny, much less if you lost $5 a
month. Actually, you're still entitled to the minimum damages under
the statute, even if you MADE money from the infringement. Copyright
lawsuits are filed all the time in cases where there is no economic
loss -- creators are still entitled to keep other people from making
unauthorised copies of their works. It's their right. It's as simple
as that. When you violate that right, you pay damages. That's to keep
you and all others similarly situated from doing that again. It's the
same in all European countries as well (I'm writing from Rome). There
is no need to show ANY economic loss at all to win a copyright
lawsuit. And the theories justifying these lawsuits are set out at
great length in numerous learned treatises, which theories have
convinced the legislatures of virtually all countries (check the
membership of the World Intellectual Property Organization sometime).
All I'm saying is that it's going to be a big job to convince all the
countries of the world that they have been wrong for the past 200
years in concluding that what artists do and writers create is worth
protecting -- regardless of the money.

C Rubini
Roma

71. Posted May 18, 2005, 8:17 AM ET by Don

Interesting article, but just remember, with Yahoo and all other
subscription services, you are just renting the music - you never
"own" it. If you stop paying your $5, "poof!" bye, bye music.

That's not necessarily bad, it is what it is. One of the things it is,
is restrictive. That music is not very "portable". It's HEAVILY DRMd.
Try burning one of those songs to a CD. No? Ooops. Thanks, but I'll
continue to buy CDs and download from iTunes.

Currently all subscription services also only have songs in the
inferrior WMA format held my the world's largest monopolist. So what
you get is music that works only on Windows and some WMA players - if
they work properly... No burning to CD, no iPod, no Linux, no Mac, no
MP3 CDs or MP3 portability, no archiving, no distribution to all the
PCs you own/use, etc. Doesnt' sound like that good of a deal to me.

The $5 monthly service however is a really good, inexpensive way to
discover new music. If you find a track you really like, then you can
always turn around and buy the CD or purchase it from iTMS.

Don

p.s. Let me make some pointers before ya'll post comments on this:

1. Yes, iTunes is DRMd too, but it's not so restrictive - it's only
designed to prevent mass copy/distribution. Once you buy a song, it's
yours to keep, and it won't expire.

2. Yes, the RIAA behaves stupidly. But there is good reason to protect
copyrighted material. They just need to be smarter about it, and learn
to embrace the internet, cause it's not going away.

3. Yahoo doesn't solve the problem with copyright infringement or
stealing of intellectual property. They're just another music service,
and in my view they're not at all mutually exclusive to other
services. You can have your Yahoo! and others too!

72. Posted May 18, 2005, 11:16 AM ET by Earle

great analogy blog mav, $5 per month fine to carry a controlled
substance. I love it.

Not that I am a RIAA apologist or anything but the RIAA does do some
good things. Like for instance, in my city, Schenectady, NY, the RIAA
paid a visit to independent bodegas (quikie-mart styled convenience
stores) as part of an investigation into dvd/cd bootlegging.
Essentially the bodegas openly sell copyrighted materials without
license. You can read about the investigation here,
http://www.schenectadyny.info/cgi-bin/Blah/Blah.pl?,b=cc,v=d…

I would have to say I think this is an appropriate function of the
RIAA.

73. Posted May 18, 2005, 12:15 PM ET by A_B

This $5 a month Yahoo! service would be a good starting off point to
argue for a statutory fee on broadband services, which, once
implemented, would allow for unlimited, DRM-less, downloading and
sharing of music.

Make everyone pay, but eliminate all roadblocks to full access to
music.

74. Posted May 18, 2005, 12:19 PM ET by Chicago Joe

Why is the major labels' failure to adjust their outdated business
model in a user-friendly way our problem as consumers? Because they
have the billions you sheep spent on the 'Britney Spears' and 'Nsync'
of the world to pay off capitol hill and force legislation that
stifles creativity and innovation.

ALL YOUR BA$$ ARE BELONG TO US

75. Posted May 18, 2005, 1:56 PM ET by Jens Meiert

$5 a month is just another dimension, if one remembers RIAA lawsuits.
It's time that the spook ends, and in Europe, everybody seems to wait
for the RIAA to "calm down".

(Go Mavs.)

76. Posted May 18, 2005, 6:02 PM ET by Jason Skidmore

#27 - Artists do NOT get royalties from Traditional Radio Airplay
unless they are the original songwriters. They DO, however, get
royalties from Internet Radio and Satellite radio stations. FM has
been getting special treatment since it's not "Digital", but I'm
curious to know what will happen when that moves into the Digital
realm as well.

77. Posted May 18, 2005, 8:19 PM ET by Pelo Rojo


Mark,

If there were an Oscar for blog entry of the year, "Yahoo Forces RIAA
Staff Cutbacks…" would be walking home from the Kodak Theater with a
golden statuette. It would be awesome to see the faces of the
Hollywood Big Money Tongues when you got up onto the stage and gave
props to EFF, Creative Commons and all the enemies of "Piraphobia"!!!

I think the only thing more entertaining might be seeing an Orrin
Hatch/Eminem duet at half-time of tonight's Mav's game in Phoenix!



78. Posted May 19, 2005, 9:37 AM ET by Alex

I'm not sure I like the idea of renting music, like Yahoo is
proposing. It's nicer just to own it and be done with it.

79. Posted May 19, 2005, 3:43 PM ET by paul scheider

At last music is getting to the people at a reasonable price. CDs will
in time be nothing more than the loss leader for the DVD, concerts
etc.

80. Posted May 20, 2005, 11:44 AM ET by Karmakin

To #62:I don't fileshare myself (don't listen to much music
actually..), but the people that do support it, it's not about
"stealing" music.

It's about replacing a totally crappy cultural exchange system (radio)
with a top-notch high quality cultural exchange system (P2P). People
still buy albums to "reward" the artists taht they like. It's as
simple as that. At least the ones who would have bought the CD. The
ones that are happy just listening to it on the radio? They're never
going to buy your stuff anyway.

P2P is NOT competing with the RIAA. P2P DOES cause problems for the
labels, but those problems are due to the exposure of rare and obscure
music that often times are only found in used CD shops. Which is a
very bad thing for them. And as well legally THEY CAN DO NOTHING
ABOUT.

P2P is competition for Clear Channel. End of story.

81. Posted May 20, 2005, 1:52 PM ET by Mark

Lets say the Average Lifespan of People Alive today will be 80 years.

80 years X 12 Months = 960 Months
960 Months X 4.99 a month = 4790.40
4790 / 17.00 Avg price of a CD = 281 Disks

I own over 281 Disks so I have already paid more for Disks than what
it would cost to have an unlimeted amount of music from yahoo for my
lifetime.

I see this as proof enough to sell all my CDs which should pay for
yahoo for a long time.

82. Posted May 20, 2005, 3:22 PM ET by tv jabber

I love the idea of all you can eat music. I also love my Sirius
satellite radio.

83. Posted May 20, 2005, 4:42 PM ET by lary

one could sell insurance covering settlements up to let's say $5000.

10,000 cases/year in the US for 16 mil leachers, or $3/year for
leacher

such insurance is 10 times cheaper than Yahoo subscription service

84. Posted May 21, 2005, 9:56 AM ET by Ryan Scott

Mark,
I think you're right, the cheaper it is to download music legally, the
less RIAA will be able to bring these huge cases against individuals.
Some downloaders eventually buy the music after listening to it for a
while, and some never intended to buy it whether they downloaded it or
not.
A side result of downloaded music would be new fans for live concerts,
where most artists really make their money. If you have fans able to
afford going to concerts, then the artists aren't going to starve.


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