“U.K. music company EMI Group PLC said Tuesday it doesn’t support a French law that could force Apple Computer Inc. to share its iTunes music technology [FairPlay DRM] with other providers,” MarketWatch reports. “Speaking on a conference call after releasing its full-year earnings, EMI Music Chairman and Chief Executive Alain Levy said he was concerned about Apple’s hold over the digital music market, but nonetheless regarded the French law with ‘amazement.'”
“‘We believe market forces work better than legislation in this case,’ he said, adding that other countries didn’t seem poised to enact similar legislation,” MarketWatch reports. “Though the law has been softened in recent weeks it could still force Apple and Sony Corp. (SNE) to share their FairPlay and ATRAC3 file formats with competitors, effectively removing their control of the market. The bill also could create extensive paperwork for companies such as EMI by forcing them to get specific authorizations to sell their music through iTunes.”
Full article here.
Advertisements:
• Introducing the super-fast, blogging, podcasting, do-everything-out-of-the-box MacBook. Starting at just $1099
• Get the new iMac with Intel Core Duo for as low as $31 A MONTH with Free shipping!
• Get the MacBook Pro with Intel Core Duo for as low as $47 A MONTH with Free Shipping!
• Apple’s new Mac mini. Intel Core, up to 4 times faster. Starting at just $599. Free shipping.
• iPod. 15,000 songs. 25,000 photos. 150 hours of video. The new iPod. 30GB and 60GB models start at just $299. Free shipping.
• Connect iPod to your television set with the iPod AV Cable. Just $19.
• iPod Radio Remote. Listen to FM radio on your iPod and control everything with a convenient wired remote. Just $49.
Related articles:
French copyright bill approved: Apple will not have to share FairPlay DRM details with competitors – May 11, 2006
French Senate vote could offer loophole for Apple’s iTunes – May 09, 2006
Vive l’iTunes! French ‘state-sponsored piracy’ DRM law gutted in committee – May 01, 2006
Force open Apple’s FairPlay? What has possessed the French this time? – April 27, 2006
French Trade Minister: Apple’s iTunes must play fair in French music market – April 14, 2006
JP Morgan: French DRM law will have limited impact on Apple Computer – March 28, 2006
Dvorak: What the French got right with proposed DRM law – March 28, 2006
Will Apple’s Steve Jobs bid France adieu? – March 22, 2006
Wired’s Kahney: Proposed French copyright protection law a good thing for consumers in the long run – March 22, 2006
Apple calls proposed French DRM law ‘state-sponsored piracy,’ predicts iPod sales increase – March 21, 2006
French National Assembly approves digital copyright bill; could affect Apple’s FairPlay DRM – March 21, 2006
aaah just as I said the music companies really wouldn’t like this law any more than Apple
This is what the French Law needs. The music makers banning France because they cannot sell music there without getting ripped off. If that happens, then no music store will have any music to sell. Now that would lead to equalization of the market shares of all online music stores. Exactly what these guys wanted to do. The french are brilliant. The law served its purpose.
Not like its the 1990’s anymore.
Nobody even cares about music.
Its all about survival, finding food.
people will sell their stocks to buy food.
not music.
besides.. why waste 99 cents on a song
when you could buy a cucumber or a lettuce with it.
or some tomatoes.
Now, I’m all for the French Law.
anything bad for music labels, is usually good for the consumer.
@gorufo
maybe EMI just got quarterly figures on how many iTunes were downloaded, and they realize that Apple is friend and French are foe.
Another example of that saying about politics making stange bedfellows.
It started as a simple argument…
…but ended as a nucler war!
Who cares about the consumer?