Song theft in the modern age

[mikehalloran]

https://www.savingcountrymusic.com/over ... ong-theft/

[HCMarkus]

Technology giveth and technology taketh away.

It's like a 7-11 store... most folks walk in, pick out their goods and pay at the counter. But a sorry few think it is a better idea to hold the joint up at gunpoint. I only hope that a some multi-hundred thousand dollar verdicts disabuse these scammers from imagining their practice is a good one.

Interesting; in the comments section of the linked article, one person was reporting that the scammers were showing up as Verified in his mobile Spotify app. Spotify may be putting themselves on the hook with that...

[mikehalloran]

Technology giveth and technology taketh away.

It's like a 7-11 store... most folks walk in, pick out their goods and pay at the counter. But a sorry few think it is a better idea to hold the joint up at gunpoint. I only hope that a some multi-hundred thousand dollar verdicts disabuse these scammers from imagining their practice is a good one.

Interesting; in the comments section of the linked article, one person was reporting that the scammers were showing up as Verified in his mobile Spotify app. Spotify may be putting themselves on the hook with that...

Their overall attitude has been that they are immune to liability on anything. A good wakeup call would be most welcome.

[HCMarkus]

+100 on that wake up call, to Spotify, Apple, Google, and all the companies whose profit is built to a large degree on the backs of creatives.

[bayswater]

Is this a simple case of receiving stolen property? If I can use Shazam to find out what a track is, Apple can too.

[mikehalloran]

Is this a simple case of receiving stolen property? If I can use Shazam to find out what a track is, Apple can too.

Apple owns Shazam (since 2014?) and shares the revenue with the rights holders.

BMI had bought it from a British company to listen to the internet but never disabled the ability of the user to click-through and purchase. They sold it in 2012 because it had a positive revenue stream and threatened their non-profit status. Ooops...

I know, you won't find this info in the Wiki article but I knew who owned it in 2007 and read about the sale in the BMI company report for 2012.

It's safe to assume that most/all PROs have similar services for listening to the internet but BMI/Shazam is the only one I know of that was also a commercial enterprise.