MP3.COM GETS POLITICAL October 10 2000 dotmusic.com 80% of Net users want more rights for their music A new poll commissioned by music site MP3.com has found that American Web users want greater online listening rights. Of the 507 Internet users interviewed over the telephone by Luntz Research, 80% agreed that "copyright laws should not infringe on an individual's access to the music that they have legally purchased." Furthermore, 74% agreed that "consumers who legally purchase music and then later upload it onto a computer or access it on a commercial Web site should not be required to pay royalties or additional fees to record companies for this privilege." While the results of the study don't do any favours for music-sharing services such as Napster (with 75% believing that "sharing and swapping music over the Internet that has never been purchased, or without the expressed consent of the performing artist and/or record company, should remain illegal."), the findings are very much in-line with - surprise - MP3.com's business model. One of the site's main services, My.MP3.com, enables users to 'space shift' their legally-purchased recordings by registering ownership of their CDs for listening via the Net. The record labels, however, didn't take too kindly to MP3.com's concept and took the company to court, winning millions of dollars in damages. But, as reported recently by dotmusic, MP3.com is now lobbying US Government to amend the legal status of services such as his and allow Internet fans free use of music they have purchased. And with still further lawsuits yet to clear - notably one from Universal Records - it's in MP3.com's interest to convince politicians that the proposed law has public support. Or as the firm's CEO Michael Robertson says, "if the bill goes through, we wouldn't have to pay royalties." comment on this article e-mail this to a friend start a discussion [about i-drive] writing index thoughts dotmusic index Problems? Questions? Suggestions? Contact me: mail@tobyslater.com back to top back to home page

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