“British music industry major EMI wants to cut its funding to the industry’s trade bodies, a source familiar with the situation told Reuters on Wednesday, which could deal a blow to the fight against music piracy,” Kate Holton reports for Reuters.
“The source said EMI, which was recently taken over by private equity group Terra Firma, was looking at ways to ‘substantially’ reduce the amount it pays trade groups,” Holton reports.
“The groups, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and other national associations, represent music companies and the fight against illegal piracy,” Holton reports.
“Analysts at UBS said any move to reduce the funding to trade bodies could hamper the industry’s efforts to fight piracy and protect music copyright,” Holton reports.
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “RadDoc” for the heads up.]
DRM is dead. EMI was out front with Apple on this, but even they can do better. Music labels should encourage musicians to make good music and sell it DRM-free at high-quality bitrates everywhere they can. That’s what we’d do – of course, we’re not 68-year-old, out-of-touch, technophobic music moguls who futilely long for “the good old days” or greedy music producers who lack basic business sense and seem only to want to screw music fans. The music business would make more money our way than by trying fruitlessly to place limits on everything which only drives more potential customers to piracy.