Universal: non-Zune owners steal music
updated 05:05 pm EST, Mon November 13, 2006
Non-Zune owners thieves?
Universal today accused all owners of non-Zune music players of stealing music, according to a report from Billboard Magazine. The major record label last week revealed that it had struck a deal with Microsoft to collect royalties on each Zune player sold. "We felt that any business that's built on the bedrock of music we should share in," Universal CEO Doug Morris said. Today Universal's chief revealed that the label refused to license its content to Microsoft's Zune Marketplace online store without royalties, arguing that his company requires compensation above and beyond direct music sales, regardless of whether Universal artists' music is ever copied to a Zune. "These devices are just repositories for stolen music, and they all know it." Morris' statement in effect suggests that players without such licensing schemes -- such as Apple's iPod -- are used primarily to listen to illegally copied songs.
The executive also clarified the terms of Universal's deal with Microsoft, noting that the company receives $1 per every $250 Zune sold and distributing half of the profits equally amongst its artists, according to Electronista. Universal previously hinted that it will try to negotiate similar terms with Apple and other online store owners in the future, but has not said that it would adjust the price of the music itself.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: May 2005
MS says: Stop helping me!
What a great way to plug an MP3 player: call all your customers pirates and thieves! Let's get this straight; Universal is (at this point) making decent money from sales of songs through iTunes. Now, they want to help MS sell their Zune, since they got a (rather) sweet deal whereby they sit on their asses and get money from every Zune sold. So, what do they do? Tell the world that they are thieves, unless they buy this dubious crappy new MP3 player that nobody has heard of! Perhaps Universal decided it was more lucrative to just fire all their artists and just take in royalties from Zune players? As an iPod owner (together with some 50 million others), this is quite insulting.
As for Microsoft, if I were them, I'd probably ask Universal to stop helping them sell this thing...