Second hand digital music files

ReDigi offers an internet-era version of that stand-by for lean weeks, flogging off your records. It has a service which checks that you've deleted your copy of song, allowing it to sell it to a new owner.
Naturally, the RIAA feels this must be stopped, as ars technica reports:

ReDigi must "quarantine any copies on its servers of our Member's sound recordings so that those recordings are not exploited in any manner," the RIAA's Jennifer L. Pariser insists. On top of that, ReDigi must erase from its website "all references to the names and likenessess of artists signed to RIAA members" and break any ongoing connections between the operation's current downloaders and its servers.

Next, RIAA wants ReDigi to fork over "an accounting of all sales achieved and revenue generated" from RIAA member sound recordings through the ReDigi service, "so that we can discuss a resolution of our Members' claims."

"In this record, I note that the statutory damages for willful copyright infringement can be as high as $150,000 per work infringed," Pariser adds.

The main worry for the RIAA is that this again reinforces the idea of digital music being something you own, rather than rent; ReDigi maintain that it's perfectly legal to sell something you own, providing you do actually sell it.

That there's a demand for the saving offered by second-hand files - about 50% off the price - should be of more interest to the labels, as it suggests there's a huge market being missed out because the pricepoint is wrong. Maybe if they could stop being fixated on copyright, the RIAA could start to understand what happened to its business.

Old mp3s for sale

The concept of digital ownership - do you own mp3s? And if you do, why can't you sell them - is getting a bit of a shaping up: a service called Bopaboo has started up, offering a 'used' mp3 marketplace.

I'm expecting the thorny question of how you can tell that an mp3 on sale is the original and not merely a duplicate will bring the pain of a thousand RIAA lawyers down on top of the Bopaboo team at any moment. Which is a pity, as it does offer an answer to the 'what do you do if you buy something rubbish by mistake' question.

All your promo CDs are belong to us

BBC News online has a considered piece on the court case brought by Universal against an eBay trader who sells promo copies of albums - old ones, like, not unreleased records:

In legal documents filed in the US District Court for the Central District of California, UMG's lawyers allege that "[Mr] Augusto's unauthorised distribution of the UMG promo CDs violated UMG's exclusive right to distribute its copyrighted works".

Among the promotional items listed as sold by Mr Augusto, according to the legal brief, are titles of CD singles by Nelly Furtado and rap group Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.

We're alarmed by this case - not merely because the only reason music journalists eat is because they flog their unwanted promos down the second hand store, and the suggestion that promotional copies remain the property of record labels threatens that.

No, our concern is the wording of that complaint: Universal aren't objecting to the sale of promo CDs, they're objecting to the violation of its exclusive right to distribute its copyrighted works at all.

In other words, this case looks like something of a stalking horse to try and outlaw the sale of second hand records altogether - after all, if those little stickers saying "Promo copy only - not for resale" are upheld in court, then what about the small print on the CD case that forbids unauthorised sale? Wouldn't someone flogging their own copy of an album on eBay also be "violating UMG's exclusive right to distribute its copyrighted works"?

As large artists choose to seek contracts elsewhere, and new artists increasingly bypass the majors, the big four are going to come to rely more and more on catalogue. They've already moaned in the past about how second-hand sales stops them making any money - sorry, the artists, it's always the artists, making any money. Could they be gearing up for a wider action?

[Thanks to MC Glammer for the link]

Selling second hand CDs? What are you, some kind of terrorist?

The record industry has been grumbling about the second hand CD market for years now - all those discs, being sold legitimately, and they're not seeing a red cent from them. Trouble is, people have always had the right to sell their own property, should they wish, so flogging your old records has always been legal.

That's starting to change, reports Scientific American. New laws in Florida and Wisconsin, and planned for other states, is making the current system of selling your discs (queue up, bloke goes through your offered records into three mysterious piles, picks up the smallest of the three and says he'll give you a heartbreakingly small sum of money) a little more complex:

In Florida, the new legislation requires all stores buying second-hand merchandise for resale to apply for a permit and file security in the form of a $10,000 bond with the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. In addition, stores would be required to thumb-print customers selling used CDs, and acquire a copy of state-issued identity documents such as a driver's license. Furthermore, stores could issue only store credit -- not cash -- in exchange for traded CDs, and would be required to hold discs for 30 days before reselling them.

Yep, in Florida, you can't offload that double copy of B*Witched's Relax and Breathe without having your dabs taken. Clearly, this is a lot more effort than its worth - both for the store, forced to hold the records for a month before they can sell them (what is that, quarantine? To check they've not got cooties?) - and for the seller, who can no longer turn his unwanted discs into vodka, cigarettes or rent.

Second hand stores are already having trouble competing with plummeting CD prices and eBay; the inability to buy stock for cold hard cash could make it harder for them to attract stuff people might want to buy. The second hand CD industry is one of the shining, successful lights of recycling - so why would anyone seek to kill it?

Recked

According to something we heard Danny Baker saying the other day, Reckless Records in Soho has closed down. The second hand micro-chain apparently closed down last Wednesday, somewhat unexpectedly. No word yet on what will happen to the stock in the stores.