Sony university music service
Following the Big Music-engineered success of Napster II at Penn State University and the University of Rochester, Sony Music says it’s set to launch a similar service this fall.
Napster II is now entrenched as the first online music ’service to be installed in major US schools, where it’s offered as a way to stop students from being sued by the record label owned RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
Senior university staff enthusiastically market the ’service’ on behalf of its owner, Roxio, and both Penn and Rochester are deeply involved in the entertainment industry’s Technology Task Force.
Little more than a year ago, online music was to all intents and purposes confined to p2p file sharing. Today, the Net is jammed with corporate online music ’stores’ all offering the same product at the same inflated prices, and many of them with little or no relationship to music.
Apple’s iTunes was the leader. Apple ceo Steve Jobs admitted iTunes is a loss leader, but where Apple went others were forced to follow, lemming-like.
Now Sony Music looks set to try to usurp the rapacious Napster II as the campus online music retailer with CAN – Campus Action Network.
“This is a particular passion of ours at Sony Music,” Sony Music Entertainment ceo Andrew Lack said during a recent ‘Entertainment Law Initiative’ luncheon for 400 entertainment attorneys, law students and key ‘music industry professionals’.
“We’ve contacted, in the last couple of months, dozens of colleges and universities to introduce them to legitimate music services that can set up an easy student offering on their campuses and filter out the pirated material,” Lack said.
“I need your help to spread this program to wherever you went to school or where your kids are going now.
“We call the program CAN – that stands for Campus Action Network. It’s something each and every one of us can advance.
“It’s cool, it works and we should get it going Fall of this year.”
