"Puretunes" Enters The On Line Music Fray
Madrid music Web site tests downloading legality
LONDON (Reuters)
? A new music download service, launched on Tuesday in Madrid, tests a legal loophole in Spanish copyright law that appears to give Web sites permission to sell songs online without consent from record companies.
Running under a banner on its homepage that reads "No Rules. No limits", the new service, Puretunes.com, is sure to raise the ire of the music industry.
Major recording labels Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music, BMG, and EMI have fiercely tried to crack down on unauthorised businesses that distribute songs online.
The music industry has been scrambling to derail online file-sharing services that enable consumers to trade tracks for free. Such services have contributed to the industry's steep sales decline, highlighted on Tuesday by news EMI's sales of recorded music fell 12.6% in the last financial year.
According to Javier Siguenza, a Madrid-based lawyer representing Puretunes, the new company abides by Spanish copyright law even though it does not have direct authorization from the music labels themselves.
The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global trade organisation that represents the music industry, was caught off guard by the launch. An IFPI spokesman said they were reviewing the site, but had not decided if they would be taking action against it.
Puretunes will sell subscriptions allowing consumers to download songs by virtue of licensing agreements it has struck with various Spanish trade associations that represent performers and recording artists.
Puretunes will compensate the artists and labels from subscription proceeds, Siguenza said.
The site carries thousands of songs from Madonna to the Beatles. Consumers can download songs in hourly blocks.
Eight hours of downloads cost $3.99 while unlimited downloads for a month cost $24.99, a steep discount from industry-sanctioned services such as pressplay and those operated by Britain's OD2. (Related story: Roxio to relaunch Napster.)
Siguenza said the new service does not need individual authorization from the major music labels, a point the industry is likely to contest as they have insisted Web sites wanting to sell downloads secure the appropriate licensing contracts.
In fact, a number of labels have sued another Spanish firm, Weblisten.com, that has been selling music online.
Adding to the intrigue, Puretunes has signed Grokster, the free file-swapping network that won a recent U.S. legal decision against the music labels, as a marketing partner. Grokster will get a cut of sales leads it brings to Puretunes.
"We've been doing everything we can to sell authorised music and basically this has been our only option," said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster. "We're out to prove a point: we can sell the music."
LONDON (Reuters)
? A new music download service, launched on Tuesday in Madrid, tests a legal loophole in Spanish copyright law that appears to give Web sites permission to sell songs online without consent from record companies.
Running under a banner on its homepage that reads "No Rules. No limits", the new service, Puretunes.com, is sure to raise the ire of the music industry.
Major recording labels Sony Music, Warner Music, Universal Music, BMG, and EMI have fiercely tried to crack down on unauthorised businesses that distribute songs online.
The music industry has been scrambling to derail online file-sharing services that enable consumers to trade tracks for free. Such services have contributed to the industry's steep sales decline, highlighted on Tuesday by news EMI's sales of recorded music fell 12.6% in the last financial year.
According to Javier Siguenza, a Madrid-based lawyer representing Puretunes, the new company abides by Spanish copyright law even though it does not have direct authorization from the music labels themselves.
The International Federation of Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the global trade organisation that represents the music industry, was caught off guard by the launch. An IFPI spokesman said they were reviewing the site, but had not decided if they would be taking action against it.
Puretunes will sell subscriptions allowing consumers to download songs by virtue of licensing agreements it has struck with various Spanish trade associations that represent performers and recording artists.
Puretunes will compensate the artists and labels from subscription proceeds, Siguenza said.
The site carries thousands of songs from Madonna to the Beatles. Consumers can download songs in hourly blocks.
Eight hours of downloads cost $3.99 while unlimited downloads for a month cost $24.99, a steep discount from industry-sanctioned services such as pressplay and those operated by Britain's OD2. (Related story: Roxio to relaunch Napster.)
Siguenza said the new service does not need individual authorization from the major music labels, a point the industry is likely to contest as they have insisted Web sites wanting to sell downloads secure the appropriate licensing contracts.
In fact, a number of labels have sued another Spanish firm, Weblisten.com, that has been selling music online.
Adding to the intrigue, Puretunes has signed Grokster, the free file-swapping network that won a recent U.S. legal decision against the music labels, as a marketing partner. Grokster will get a cut of sales leads it brings to Puretunes.
"We've been doing everything we can to sell authorised music and basically this has been our only option," said Wayne Rosso, president of Grokster. "We're out to prove a point: we can sell the music."
Comments
Get it while it's hot. Spain will bend to the RIAA.
Oh, and the 25 free songs never ended. I downloaded around 400 songs (most of which I threw out cuz they were lower bitrates than what I already had) It seemed there was no limit. Course, we'll see if I get a bill in the mail or something. Anyway, it was crappy, will never use it again.
I keep seeing this "drop in sales due to online sharing" assertion (that's what it is, an assertion) repeated as if it were fact. Has nothing to do with the economy, I guess? The music industry must be immune to the same conditions that have effected every realm of consumer sales. I suppose people are pirating Ford's and Chevy's and SAAB's, or they must be sharing new Motherboards and Gfx cards over their IP's too, WOW, those are some amazing internet connections, I didn't know replicators had made the jump from Star Trek to real life. Man, that's amazing, where can I get one?
Must have nothing to do with generally stale product, very stale, tired, formulaic product. As I recall, there were markets in 2001/2 music that actually increased sales, but that inconvenient bit of fact escapes the regular reportage.
Originally posted by Matsu
I suppose people are pirating Ford's and Chevy's and SAAB's, or they must be sharing new Motherboards and Gfx cards over their IP's too, WOW, those are some amazing internet connections, I didn't know replicators had made the jump from Star Trek to real life. Man, that's amazing, where can I get one?
Originally posted by hmurchison
Well done and on target Matsu. Be we all know if the News Media keeps regurgitating the same tired lines they DO eventually become fact. Makes me wonder what part of "History" I've been taught followed that same principle.
Almost all of it.