MESSAGE
| DATE | 2002-10-24 |
| FROM | Vin
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [hangout] Band Can't Sell Own Music on EBay
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http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,55926,00.html
Band Can't Sell Own Music on EBay By Brad King
02:00 AM Oct. 24, 2002 PDT
George Ziemann didn't have delusions of grandeur when it came to selling his
band's CD.
He just wanted to promote the album -- and hopefully sell a few copies -- on
a higher-traffic site than his own. So he turned to eBay, the Net's largest
marketplace.
But the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a law meant to limit people
from distributing content illegally over the Internet, foiled him.
The reason? He used recordable CDs (CD-Rs) to distribute his albums.
The discs allow people to record data files -- music and movies for instance
-- and they are often used to record and sell pirated wares.
As a precaution against enabling thieves to sell stolen merchandise on the
site, eBay launched its Verified Rights Owner program, which allows copyright
holders to send eBay take-down notices for auctions that violate copyright
laws.
The problem in Ziemann's case, he said, is that he's selling his own music.
The mistake occurred when eBay employees swept the site for illegally posted
materials. On two occasions, the company mistakenly identified Ziemann's
album -- which was advertised as a CD-R -- as infringing on somebody's
copyright, said eBay spokesman Kevin Pursglove
David Steiner, president of AuctionBytes.com, an online auction news
service, said this type of thing often happens to smaller auctions, despite
the fact that Ziemann appeared to own the music he was selling.
"There is a lack of communication at eBay," Steiner said. "If one person
received an e-mail, they might deal with the problem. The problem is, it
doesn't get logged, and if another e-mail shows up, another customer service
representative starts the whole process all over again."
Less than three weeks after he started his first auction, Ziemann received
the first of what would become an endless string of notes -- sometimes from
actual staff members, but more often in the form of auto-response e-mails --
telling him his auction had been shuttered because somebody had fingered him
as a thief.
Over the next month, he tried to find out who had fingered him and what he
could do to get his auction back up. The constant back and forth eventually
soured Ziemann -- who runs a website and retail service from his home -- on
eBay altogether.
"We no longer have any interest in selling our product there. Ever," Ziemann
wrote in an e-mail.
With media companies upping their online enforcement of copyright law, cases
of mistaken identity like Ziemann's could be on the rise. Again, eBay would
not comment on its policing policy, but several companies scour the Internet
looking for copyrighted materials. The movie industry uses Ranger Online,
said Steiner.
The recording industry has employed several search companies, including
Media Enforcer and BayTSP.
Ziemann never anticipated selling more than 20 or so albums, but for other
independent musicians or small record labels, the online auction site is one
of the few large storehouses where they can sell their CDs. Small groups can
try to sell their music in other places -- MP3.com, for example -- but the
larger outlets like Tower Records and Musicland don't offer musicians and
labels much control.
Unless musicians want to sell their music straight off their own websites --
which likely limits their exposure, depending on their existing fan base --
there aren't many places to go.
CD Baby out of Portland, Oregon, offers one of the few attractive options.
Started by Derek Sivers in 1998, the company has paid out over $2 million to
25,000 musicians who sell their merchandise online. With little overhead and
a small staff, the group handles about 600 sales a day. Those shipments are
tracked, and every Monday Sivers sends out about $40,000 in checks.
That may not be enough to entice eBay or Tower Records to change the way
they operate, but as record sales continue to plummet worldwide, Sivers has
found a way to build a solid -- and independent -- music retail store for
musicians like Ziemann.
"There is no one independent musician considered to be a big enough deal for
other companies," Sivers said, "but by treating the little people like they
aren't important enough, these companies are missing out on the 25,000
musicians who still need a place to be."
____________________________
New Yorker Free Software Users Scene
Fair Use -
because it's either fair use or useless....
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