p2pnet - rss feed: BBC’s Beethoven downloads
p2pnet.net News:- The BBC, Britain’s national broadcaster, recently offered free Beethoven as part of The Beethoven Experience on Radio 3 to gauge listeners’ appetite for downloads.
Symphonies one to five were the first up with six to nine following and the complete works were online for about a month.
But, “the initiative has infuriated the bosses of leading classical record companies who argue the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition,” says The Independent.
“Managing director of the Naxos label, Anthony Anderson, said: ‘I think there is a question of whether a publicly funded broadcaster should be doing this and there is the obvious issue that it is devaluing the perceived value of music’.”
If you can download music, its value is diminished? That looks a lot like an entertainment cartel contention.
“You are also leading the public to think that it is fine to download and own these files for nothing,” the story has Anderson saying.
However, while Radio 3 controller Roger Wright said there are no plans to extend the “experiment,” he “did not rule out further downloads”.
“We are as surprised as everyone that this has been so popular,” The Independent has him saying.
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See:-
free Beethoven - 700K Beethoven downloads!, p2pnet, June 16, 2005
The Independent - Downloading trouble at the BBC, July 12, 2005
July 12th, 2005 at 3:37 pm
Please note, “own these files for nothing” and “publicly funded” are being a little disingenuous. These performances were paid for from what is effectively a compulsory tax. So we *have* paid for them and they were *not* publicly funded.
There is an argument, which I agree with, that the BBC is funded specifically via the TV license to provide publically accessible content and they should not just choose to make them publicly available over the internet but should actually be required to distibute them as widely as possible.
July 12th, 2005 at 4:34 pm
These classical music labels are making money off music that’s in the public domain. Their core of “real” classical fans will still seek out specific performances & recordings and buy them regardless of “free” DLs. This is just corporate whining of the worst sort. Undermining the value of music my @$$. Did it ever occur to these visionary record execs that a lot of the people enticed (or should I say INDUCED) to DL Beethoven tracks from the beeb may have have had limited exposure to classical music and gosh, some of them may actually like it and look to purchase other classical music recordings? Greedy puss brains that can’t see past the end of their profit margins.
July 12th, 2005 at 6:55 pm
Since the major stance isn’t saying anything about lawsuits, we can take it that the performances weren’t done by the major labels. Most likely it was done by public performance and recorded. However had the majors any sort of stance to stand on, the legal aspect would be in full swing now. The music itself is beyond question in firmly in public domain. Can’t get them for copyright that way.
It is the responcibility of the BBC to see that its material is wide spread and distributed as it is a public funded entity that is a broadcaster. Its goals aren’t the same goals as the major media which is to hoard and mine the “content” under their control. Anything that threatens that objective is always a problem to the major media and they are well known to seek legal answers to any sort of problem. Image doesn’t come into the picture, only profit comes in. If they can’t threaten it out of existance, then there remains buying it up, suing it to insolvency and taking over it, changing the laws to reflect their wants, or if nothing else remains slander and propaganda.
It seems their wants have been ignored and propaganda is their only remaining avenue to use. Poor, poor music industry, always trying so hard to skin a dollar, franc, mark, euro, or pound and make it look like they are just barely getting by. So why is it that the stockholder reports are always so rosy? You can’t believe anything they say other than it will be in their own self-interest. It gives me the shivers to think of being one of their stockholders as they would be the last to know the ship was sinking, if it ever does.
It is obvious that the only remaining avenue to the majors is bitching and whining.
July 12th, 2005 at 11:53 pm
Beethoven has been dead for rather a long time. The recordings were made by the BBC. The orchestra obviously agreed to these recordings being made public.
The moaners who own the recording companies are obviously total idiots. They are their own worse enemies. I had never considered illegally downloading until they started their greedy onslaughts - as I’m sure many others hadn’t. Now I would recommend that everyone should download as much as possible, even if they don’t want the downloads themselves, they surely have a family member, a friend, or a neighbour who would like them. If not they may rest in the glow of knowing what they have done pisses off some of the greediest, most unfair and most foul people around at the moment - then when completed they may delete the files.
One thing is now certain, I will never buy another thing made by these people. Luckily I am of an age where I have an extremely large collection all ready (fully paid for unfortunately) - all the more to offer to others!
It would be excellent if we could all join together and subscribe to a fund that could be used to fight them in court.
Viva la Revolution!
July 14th, 2005 at 1:35 pm
“the offer undermines the value of music and that any further offers would be unfair competition”
Yes, whoever said this is a LOST SOUL that has never understood the need and value of public and school libraries or for that matter the Internet. The LOST SOUL surely has no social conscience, ethical or moral principles
I can only guess the LOST SOUL is a millionaire hat buys everything and accepts nothing for free or as a loan so as not to undermines the value of everything.
Public libraries and now the Internet eliminate the need to buy newspapers and books, a huge saving of resources, money, time and the environment. That is unfair competition?
I can only assume the LOST SOUL has never loaned anything to anyone either so as not to undermines the value of anything. You see, lending is surely unfair competition and undermines the values too to the LOST SOUL, since the lendee then does not have to rent or buy whatever was lent. Surely bad for business. Imagine telling a mother that she should go and rent a car insted of pretending that you lend her your unused car while her car is being repaired. Perhaps that is what the LOST SOUL will do.
Rafael Venegas
http://www.gvenegas.com