Hypnosis4U2NV used our news submit to tell us about this interesting development coming from a new company called La la Media. Here we have a proposed online CD swapping service that will let people trade their unwanted Cd's for ones they wish they had. The intriguing part about this, is that the company intends to give 20% of its trade revenue to artists. We have to wonder how negotiations will go when the RIAA isn't calling the shots. But, on the other hand, it seems that technically, they probably don't have to give the artists a thing. Maybe some of our legal minded visitors have an opinion on this! Or even those out there that try to make a living via music sales.
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With 1.8 million album titles available, members trade the CDs in prepaid envelopes, much like the way popular mail-order DVD service Netflix Inc. operates. La la founders argue that, unlike underground online file-sharing services, which have been sued for copyright infringement, La la is protected under an exception to the U.S. Copyright Act. They argue that the owner of a CD can transfer a legally-acquired copy without permission or payment of additional royalties. Members will pay $1 to La la for facilitating the trade once they receive the disc from other members, plus a 49 cent shipping charge. La la said it will set aside 20 percent of its trading revenue to recording artists. La la said it is currently talking with the world's major music labels to obtain licenses for the sale of digital music. |
Take a minute and visit over at Yahoo News if you want to check out the whole story. This is a very controversial business model and we can be sure that the music industry will vehemently oppose this paradigm. La la Media must be very new though, as there is not a trace of it on the web that we can find. Maybe one of our talented Googlers out there can dredge up a link for us to check out.
*Update* Here's the link, but looks like you need to be invited for the beta. However, if you go to this about page, you will find an interesting read. Basically, they say they are music fans and that they feel artists are not getting their fair share, they think this program if run efficiently, will be a good source of income for artists. Time will tell if this is the case. It seems like it will be a monumental task to fairly distribute the funds.
Source: Yahoo News
