Comments on: Music law: Boring but important

By: El Mike’s Internet News Blog » Blog Archive » Sony Stops Licensing Of Digital Streams As It Allows DRM-Free Music

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 09:53:00 +0000

[...] company has also told the Harry Fox Agency to stop licensing its music for digital streaming (via Mathew Ingram). As Ingram points out, this decision is really about the rather arcane details of copyright law [...]

By: mathewi

mathewi — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:33:01 +0000

Um, thanks Ben :-)

I'm not sure about having a leg to stand on -- there have been
decisions and rulings in the past that suggested streaming and/or
downloads might be considered a reproduction. I still think it's
primarily a negotiating tactic.

By: mathewi

mathewi — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:31:01 +0000

I think that's exactly what they have in mind, Karoli.

By: Ben Lucier

Ben Lucier — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:29:43 +0000

You're right, that was boring. Still important, regardless. It seems pretty clear to me that Sony doesn't have a leg to stand on. So if Sony told Harry Fox to stop licensing content, what's next for them? What will the fallout be?

By: Karoli

Karoli — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 02:26:06 +0000

Mathew I appreciate the fact that you're following this issue and continuing to write about it. It's a really pivotal time for music and musicians, and the issues are very complex.

This sounds like Sony is trying to revive the issues that were at the fore a few months ago when Congress authorized the quadrupled fees for streaming music. Is Sony's goal here to double-dip the royalty trough by trying to define streaming content as both performance and reproduction? Sure feels like it to me.