p2pnet - rss feed: Kid Rock dumps on iTunes
p2pnet news | Music:- Robert Ritchie is pissed with Apple because he figures it’s keeping too much of the cash generated by iTunes which, he says, according to the BBC, is based on “an old system”.
iTunes, “takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists”.
So he’s boycotting iTunes.
Ritchie, who’s filthy rich, might be more familiar to you under his pseudonym, Kid Rock.
In the BBC story, he says his record company, Atlantic, owned by Warner, asked him to “stand up for illegal downloading” a few years ago because it told him “people are stealing from us and stealing from you”.
Does ’stand up for’ mean ’support’?
Anyway, “Wait a second,” he says, “you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?
“I was telling kids - download it illegally, I don’t care. I want you to hear my music so I can play live.”
Steve Albini, anyone?
‘Wholesale prices vary with majors from anywhere from 65 to 80 cents’
Actually, for many moons iTunes was no more than a loss leader for Apple —- a way to promote iPods —- and even today, it’s little more than a user-funded front end for the portable music box which rules the world.
The lion’s share goes not to Apple, but into the pockets of the venal Big 4 record labels, Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG.
We haven’t seen their wholesale figures lately, but in June, 2005, “Wholesale prices vary with majors from anywhere from 65 to 80 cents,” Mashboxx boss Wayne Rosso told p2pnet.
And Ray Beckerman, who runs Recording Indusrry vs The People and who’s representing Marie Lindor in UMG v Lindor, tried in vain to get the labels to reveal their pricing structures.
“Plaintiffs would like the well known fact that the prevailing price is 70 cents per download to be confidential,” he said
But the Big 4’s RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America), which was suing Lindor for alleged copyright infringement, wouldn’t supply the data.
“He [Beckerman] says he’s willing to keep the details of the contracts confidential, but nothing else, and asked judge Robert M. Levy to order the RIAA to produce the information,” said p2pnet, going on:
“New York judge J. Trager recently ruled that Lindor, a home health aide, can add to her defence her claim that $750-per-song damages demanded by the Big 4 isn’t only unconstitutional, it’s also far too much -1,071 times too much, to be exact.”
iTunes might be turning a profit now, but it’s probably a very slim one chances are it hasn’t been all that long since it escaped from the red into the black.
So who’s greedy?
Apple?
Or Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG?
‘Stealing from the artists for years’
Meanwhile, “Rock’s tirade was apparently precipitated by a request from his record label, Warner Music Group’s Atlantic Records, that he publicly denounce file sharing,” says Eliot van Buskirk in Wired, continuing >>>
His response: “Wait a second, you’ve been stealing from the artists for years. Now you want me to stand up for you?” Ouch.
It seems there’s no one way that artists are responding to the opportunities and challenges presented by the internet. It’s official now: They’re all over the map when it comes to downloads, DRM, file sharing and the rest of it, no longer offering the same rationales for completely different conclusions.
“ITunes takes the money, the record company takes the money, and they don’t give it to the artists,” added the country rock rapper. Instead, he says, the internet offers a “great opportunity for everyone to be treated fairly, for the consumer to get a fair price, for the artist to be paid fairly, for the record companies to make some money.”
This makes a lot of sense, and it’s the sort of thing that the digital music optimists among us have been saying for years. However, Rock expands on the idea, positing that anyone who needs something should just take it: “I don’t mind people stealing my music, that’s fine. But I think they should steal everything. You know how much money the oil companies have? If you need some gas, just go fill your tank (up) and drive off, they’re not going to miss it.”
Kid Rock’s iTunes boycott is in full effect, says Wired, adding:
“As of right now, none of his Warner-era albums are available on iTunes, where only his rarely heard debut - 1990’s Grits Sandwiches for Breakfast on Zomba Recordings - is available.
Stay tuned >>>
(Thanks, Emma)
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BBC - Kid Rock boycotts iTunes over pay, June 18, 2007
p2pnet - Mashboxx wraps Sony BMG, June 29, 2005
representing Marie Lindor - Eve Burton, RIAA ’supervising attorney’, June 19, 2008
Wired - Kid Rock Boycotts iTunes, Champions P2P, June 18, 2008
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June 20th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Just wanted to say, stealing gas is very bad for everybody involved.
1. You’ll most likely feel guilty.
2. Law enforcement, which you pay, will spend resources to track you down.
3. Gas stations have to raise prices to get the profits from lost gasoline, take a loss, or possibly go out of business.
4. Others have to pay more for gasoline in the end.
5. You’ll most likely waste it as it didn’t cost you anything, as far as you know.
6. “Big Oil” spends the money they earn (the couple trillion they have is 8.9% higher than it was last year. An average gain for most companies.) on exploration to find new oil.
7. Some of the “Big Oil” money is spent on renewable resources.