GigaOM

Hey you bunch of thieves…

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The EULA Creep…

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Boycott UMG…

I’m not much on boycotting anything. But since I apparently steal all my music I figure “Eff UMG!” You call me a thief!? I’ll call BS on you! I might make it a YEAR just for kicks!

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HE SAID WHAT!??!??!…

Red Hot Chili Peppers, QOTSA, T.I. Rock For Zune Ok, ignore the title of the linked article for a second… in fact ignore the article all together.  The only thing important about the article from billboard.com is that it includes a quote fr…

Video Game Podcast for 11-14-06 | Graphics Don’t Matter…

Is the big push for graphics a generational thing? This week, The Geek and Frodo discuss graphical comparisons in next gen systems, the PS3 and Wii launch, song sharing with the Zune, Penny Arcade’s Child’s Play, home SNES game repair,……

[...] your customers like common criminals is a sure fire way to destroy your biz, but never mind. According to Forbes.com article, there is a lot of resistance to selling the [...]

Even though I disagree and dont care for the stern statements by both execs…, the point still remains that a good percentage, lets say 30%, of music on the players is music that wasnt paid for by the device owner.

I own an ipod, and a sony minidisc player. Of all my music consumption off those two devices about 70-80% is from music I purchased…, the rest is music from friends that said “Hey give this a listen”.., and I ripped it to my computer then over to the device(s). I have only purchased one album from iTunes…, I still love to go music shopping and like to have the cd and booklet in hand to see the artwork and liner notes, etc.

Whenever covering this topic with friends they have very similar percentages in the amount of unpaid music on their devices…, most of them purchase regularly from iTunes or corresponding site.

Not to side is the folks at Microsoft, but the things I have read stated a proposed $1 license per device goes to the label(s). I think that is a pretty fair thing and that Apple should follow. When you break is down…, a few dollars shaved off the profit margin doesnt effect the bottom line that much if a company is successfully selling their device in the marketplace. And as a music lover…, would I really care if apple passed that expense on to me and my next iPod costed me $255 instead of $250.

So I would have to disagree with the statements by people that the record companies shouldnt be asking for $$$ from the device sales…, I do strongly agree with the boycott statement.., it would definitely help to show the labels who is boss.

Ultimately no matter what happens in the end with this battle the labels, devices makers, and consumers will not be the losers…, it will be the lower tier artists signed to majors and the indie artists trying to make a career off of their art.

I think there’s more to the Microsoft and Universal deal then first appears to be the case. It’s a judo move against Apple. Check out my post on the subject: (link)

rather than avoid the artists, it would be easier to avoid any UMG associated label. Watch the labels folks! this really shouldn’t be tough for me as Universal’s roster isn’t my type of thing.

Geffen Records

Interscope Geffen A&M

Island Def Jam Music Group

Lost Highway Records

MCA Nashville

Mercury Nashville

Motown Records

UNI Records

Universal Music Classics Group

Universal Records

Universal Music Enterprises

Universal Music Latino

Universal South

Verve Music Group

Classics & Jazz (Germany)

Decca Music Group

Def Jam (UK)

Deutsche Grammophon Records

Island Records Group (UK)

Jazz Echo (Germany)

Jazz Land Records (Norway)

Mercury (UK)

Polydor (UK)

Stockholm Records (Sweden)

UMTV (UK)

Universal Music Australia

Universal Music Brazil

Universal Music Canada

Universal Music Colombia

Universal Music Czech Rep

Universal Music Finland

Universal Music France

Universal Music Germany

Universal Music Hong Kong

Universal Music Hungary

Universal Music India

Universal Music Italy

Universal Music Japan

Universal Music Mexico

Universal Music Netherlands

Universal Music Norway

Universal Music Poland

Universal Music Portugal

Universal Music Publishing Group

Universal Music Russia

Universal Music Spain

Universal Music Sweden

Universal Music Switzerland

Universal Music UK

Universal Pop (Germany)

Urban (Germany)

@Nate
More than 20% to 30% of the profits that UMG and their ilk have made over the decades is from ripping off artists, price fixing and sheer money for jam by doing sweet FA for musicians.

Their approach, together with Microsoft, of assuming that everyone is a thief is a disgrace.

Stuggling artists have been struggling since vinyl and in fact now use music sharing as a valid and effective marketing campaign.
United etc have shown they can’t adapt and want a $1 a unit because they are lazy, self righteous and have not got an ounce of marketing creativity amongst them.
The good news is that the Zune strategy is a joke and none of these wankers will be getting much anyhow.

Geffen records pissed me off a long time ago when they screwed a great band named Jawbreaker out of one of their best albums.

To bad they are the label of choice for a lot of up and coming bands.

OK, so now that the record companies are getting a slice off the top of the device profits in advance of the device being used for music obtained “illegally” that means they have no further grounds to be suing people who have such music…right?

(link) MusicGroup

Agreed folks on everything you guys said. I have spent more than $2000 on music this year.

Have gone out of the way to buy music that is available for download or bought CDs (Buddha Bar kinda stuff) and this bull shit they say pisses me off no end.

I’m in. Calling all of their customers criminals is asinine.

of all the listed music labels, i havent seen 1 good disc from these guys in years. its not that every body is stealing Your music, nobody is buying because what youve been shoving is nothing but shit.

One of the the biggest problems is their current business model. They no longer work in the modern world cause things change. You used to be able to buy tapes then they went obsolete, you used to be able to buy VHS and laser disk and the same happend. Watch DVDs over the next couple of years.

CD type Media in the next 10 years will become obsolete or very rare. Because it crap compared to emerging technologies.

These guys need to get involved in the advertising dollar, the concert marketing dollar and start value adding. Imaging a service that provided a live DVD of the concert you have just seen or the ability to download it off the net for a fee. Wicked, re-live the Rock!!!!

one week? i say we all boycott universal for a month, let those a-h’s suffer a bit more where it hurts: the pocket

One week? Heh. Thanks for making a call to action, but I’m way ahead of you. I’ll continue my five-year long boycott of RIAA companies.

I’m with you Om!That a company thinks they can freely insult and sue their users without consequences blows my mind. Shows if anything how those who make decisions there don’t care about their product in the first place.
These are the same executives who are ready to spend millions on “creating” the buzz on a new song/movie, but lawyer up as soon as the buzz catches up and the song or video ends up on youtube. Dying for the day they’ll be in an empty office wondering how they’ve become irrelevant!

I don’t know about the US. But I know Venezuela, where I live. Most of the people do buy music, but they buy them from illegal copies in the street. The truth is I hope the artists find another way to monetize their creativity, by doing advertisement, concerts, etc, cause in the third world countries we can’t pay 1 buck per track. It’s too much money. People pay 1 buck per CD.

Ok..so we have to pay a fee of $1 because the device could have stolen music. Does that mean UMG legalizes the stolen music a music pirate has? If that is not the case, what is the $1 for?

So back in the day when friends would give me a mix tape and say “hey, give this a listen”, the cassette player manufacturers should have been paying $$ to the record labels?

Every copy of Windows sold will now give 5% of cost to RIAA, 5% to MPAA and 10% to every software company to pay for all the POTENTIAL pirating. MS can then recoup those costs by taxing PC manufacturers because they allow people to run pirated copies of Windows.

-Bit torrent CAN be used for pirating music
-Computers CAN be used for pirating music
-iPods CAN be used for playing pirated music
-Headphones CAN allow you to listen to pirated music
-You can’t download free music without an ISP of some sort

They should all be taxed by the record labels.

Image/Badge URL: (link)

Guys, I’m with all of you. Morris just called 4 million customers thieves in one fell swoop. Brilliant.

I’ve started (link) and I’m working on a petition and a logo for anyone boycotting UMG. I also have a list of all the UMG artists. Feel free to email me too (info at boycottUMG.com)

I agree 100% the UMG needs to stop however downloading is illegal so people need to realize its a risk.

Folks, PLEASE get into the habit of checking (link) BEFORE you pay money for music… in the online world or at a CD store. Considering the business ethics of RIAA members such as Universal, you might as well be giving money to La Cosa Nostra.

I have bought perhaps a dozen CDs worth of music, mostly on iTunes, since being told about RIAA Radar last year. Absolutely one of them was released from an RIAA member, and that was a mistake I wish I could take back.

Starve the RIAA execs, and (yes) starve the artists who willingly ink deals with them. There’s a lot of good stuff out there from artists and labels who will not take your money and use it to bury a legislative dagger in your back.

I’ve come up with this petition: (link)

and this image

(link)

woops.. I guess the code didnt come through.. uh here’s the url for the image…

(link)

Due to their perverted business practices, I’ve long had big-label music on my sh!tlist. There’s a lot of good independent music to be had at CDbaby as well as mainstream retailers.

See (link)

There’s a reason why a huge percentage of the bandwidth on the internet is being used by filesharing applications… and it’s not because people are sharing home videos, self coded software and songs they recorded in their bedrooms. They are stealing intellectual property to play on their Ipods and other hardware.

You guys are obviously not the consumers the RIAA has issues with. But don’t think for a second that you represent the majority.

You know this is going on, and only a fool would say it hasn’t harmed the music industry. Sure, the industry has other problems, but it’s undeniable that p2p is definitely one of them.

Getting mad that Universal is getting a .5% payment on every Zune sold that will probably play a good amount of it’s stolen music is insane.

Just by coincidence, these guys start saying these craps after M$ deal.

M$ has to learn that it is not a cool company and it will never be a cool company even if the user has no choice.

As M$ will never be cool as Apple and Google and it is a company designet to take all the money and power it can get, it insists on using the smashing bones strategy, where it destroys everything it cannot have, in order to obtain some valuables from the dead bodies.

It is my oppinion that M$ is run by mental ill people, seeking for money and power at all costs.

What is more stunning is that the consumer allows this to occur and consume products from M$ and from its associates like this UBG.

This proves my theory that M$ is desperate trying to revert the downhill it is in…

Believe me. Vista will be the last OS from M$.

Take a note of that.

Here’s another badge for you. Some elements borrowed from Elias’ design, but clearer text and maybe a more appropriate color scheme.

(link)

I couldn’t agree more with you, OM. I’m sick and tired of the damn accusations. No UMG this holiday season. And to the rest of ‘em: Go ahead, keep trying to alienate your customers. We’ll do to you what we’re doing to network TV with YouTube, etc.

I agree also. As an owner of a still-working Generation 2 iPod (new one definitely coming soon), I have always been legit with my music:

• I ripped my onw CD collection
• I buy a mix of on and off line (physical) music on a regular (weekly) basis

If the music co’s would wise up - they’d have more of my money. If I go down to my local HMV in Ireland, and new (top ten) cd is Euro 23!!! That’s roughly $25 or $26! This for a format and production costs busines that’s only got 10 times cheaper in the last 10 years!!

So - you’re spot on Om. I’ll wear the badge :-)

Sean

I wouldn’t mind paying a fee for each blank CD and DVD as we do here in Spain, but that would then mean I am free to copy anything published by the people gettig that money (the SGAE in our case).

But they want both, obviously… :)

And no, piracy is not what is causing the troubles in the recording industry, but a decrepit business model…

I made a logo if you want to use it.

Downloadable here in gif and jpg formats:

(link) umglogo.gif
(link) umglogo.jpg

Enjoy!

ad

Hm… This posting won’t allow underscores.

(link) umglogo.jpg

Should say:

no[underscore]umg[underscore]logo.jpg

ad

UMG are a bunch of cokeheads.

A bunch of Marc Jacobs all black wearing let’s lunch at the Ivy

shallow,vacous,bottom line,blow the shareholders types.

WORSE than virtually ANY major eating over the behavioral sink.

When they were MCA,it was known as”The Musician’s Cemetary

of America.” Why would it be any different now?

I think music sales have declined because there are just so much “media” all around us. You can’t watch TV without some commercials sportng some cool new or vintage tunes. You can’t surf Myspace without sampling all these different artists. Part of the issue is the consumers’ need to go out and buy music is significantly less now compared to the pre-Internet age, when your primary source of music are from the radio, MTV or buying it from your local music store.

But the biggest factor in declining music sale, imho, is that there are just simply not that many distinguished artists or bands out there. The music industry have basically turned their products into commodities, and pretty much all songs sound the same and there is really nothing edgy about them.

Consumers are more sophisticated now than ever before, and they will buy the music they truely love and not blindly follow the shopping list promoted by your Billboard Top XYZ list of your run of the mill tunes.

And the badge to go along with my trackback…

(link)

instead of linking to a badge to protest UMG, spend your money at emusic.com.

much more effective

I wouldn’t mind paying a fee for each blank CD
and DVD as we do here in Spain

Same here in Germany. Still record companies selling DRM-contaminated CDs which may not be copied here are participating on the fees of CDR.

I say it’s time for the artists and the consumers alike to rearrange their priorities. We don’t need UMG at all when to artists can transport their music to your home via the net.

1. Hey! Look at who are on YouTube and NOT threatening to sue them?

2. Webcast here, website there, webbuy, link, link….kindly time out. If I want vintage music I want to go find it or I’ll occasionally eBay it. The internet is for info and gear. i wouldn’t begin to dare to use a credit cars for any reason, especially online buying. i’m already certain social security numbers are mush as it is and I just don’t care.

Wait six months before you blog most things and you prevent carpal tunnel problems. Now dostors could sue ME for losing business? giggles and oy vey kids Happy Thursday

Universal Music is owned by GE - GE also owns NBC, partners with Microsoft on MSNBC. It’s no wonder Microsoft has built so much security into Vista… How long before we hear about some other kind of “partnership”? Wasn’t there a rumour about them buying Dow Jones together? Wouldn’t it be strange for them to control ALL our media?
It’s not just music… it’s everything.

Hey Nate…you are a bright one! Did you, a year ago, stop buying Universal Music? Well, just in case you haven’t followed up on anything (which I’m sure you haven’t because you seem to know nothing), Universal Music is largely the market leader in music. The month of October, UMG artists were roughly 50% of all music sold. Did you also know, that Apple gets about 1/3 of everything sold on iTunes? 1/3! Just for making it available to consumers. It’s no question that iPods are the leader in mp3 devices, but anyone that owns one, also uses iTunes. Ipods are about $300 a pop, but the music labels do not see any of that. Apple is an innovative company, and Steve Jobs really did save the music industry, but Apple is profitting way too much just to have music available to consumers. If you do any kind of market research, you will know that there are many, many people who still rip music online, from file sharing, whithout paying for it. Good thing we have people out there who care about the music industry to help keep it afloat.