Dying Empire Update
Viacom made big headlines two years ago when they filed a billion-dollar lawsuit against YouTube for “brazen copyright infringement”. Today, YouTube released their side of the story, which includes a few interesting facts:
For years, Viacom continuously and secretly uploaded its content to YouTube, even while publicly complaining about its presence there. It hired no fewer than 18 different marketing agencies to upload its content to the site. It deliberately “roughed up” the videos to make them look stolen or leaked. It opened YouTube accounts using phony email addresses. It even sent employees to Kinko’s to upload clips from computers that couldn’t be traced to Viacom. And in an effort to promote its own shows, as a matter of company policy Viacom routinely left up clips from shows that had been uploaded to YouTube by ordinary users.
YouTube’s no angel in this dispute, either, but at least they’re not trolling for a billion dollars.
Meanwhile, the dinosaurs at Universal have lowered CD prices to a max of $10. I’d wager that most of Universal’s target market has forgotten that CDs even exist, but I’m sure McMegan or someone like her will see this as more evidence of nimble innovation in the face of market pressure.
March 18, 2010 7:07 pm
Posted in: Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Free Markets Solve Everything
27 Comments
27 Responses
General Egali Tarian Stuck - March 18, 2010 | 7:09 pm · Link
Just another tricky day in the land of dog eat dog.
AhabTRuler - March 18, 2010 | 7:13 pm · Link
Eh, I still buy CDs whenever possible, although I almost always buy them used. I roughed it all out, and I end up averaging between $5-7, including shipping.
gbear - March 18, 2010 | 7:20 pm · Link
Hey, a lot of us troglodytes will be happy about lower CD prices, although most of the stuff I buy is on indie labels instead of the Acme-Universal-Omnicorp labels. The store I shop at has actually doubled the size of their new LP section over the last six months. We ipod haters are still surviving, thank you.
Oh, and good job of bostering your case, Viacom.
Robin G. - March 18, 2010 | 7:26 pm · Link
Somewhat OT, but:
I am now Balloon Juice’s loveslave. So. Much. Win.
Bob L - March 18, 2010 | 7:31 pm · Link
I remember in my day we listened to music on 8 track tap or AM radio and we were grateful. In those days working class people weren’t allowed stereo. And you kids can get your fancy I-Pods off my front lawn! /geezer
Why does this Viacom stunt remind me of Lenin’s quote about capitalists selling the rope that will hang them?
Lev - March 18, 2010 | 7:41 pm · Link
I still buy CDs, mostly because I purchase a lot of older stuff and you can find, say, Tim by The Replacements used for a few bucks on CD on Amazon instead of paying $15 through iTunes. Also, I’ve developed something of a love-hate relationship with Apple because of their douchebaggery, and at this point I’m only allowing myself to download the occasional single track from them.
MTiffany - March 18, 2010 | 7:48 pm · Link
LOL. I’m sure her stocks in companies which produce vinyl blanks for LPs and 45s are something to behold.
burnspbesq - March 18, 2010 | 7:48 pm · Link
I’d rather watch Tweety than listen to an MP3 file. If you care about listening to recorded music that sounds like actual instruments and voices, vinyl rules, hi-res downloads are good, and CDs are barely tolerable.
And I want you little barbarians off my lawn right the fuck now.
Warren Terra - March 18, 2010 | 7:57 pm · Link
I’ve never understood why in the UK movies and TV series, even American-made ones, get heavily discounted after a few years – but here in the US most prices stay fixed. Is it about the residuals?
Fencedude - March 18, 2010 | 7:59 pm · Link
@burnspbesq:
Fuck vinyl. Seriously.
Morbo - March 18, 2010 | 8:10 pm · Link
Amazing, now they figure this out after having settled a class action lawsuit some years ago on price fixing CDs.
@AhabTRuler: I do too; I like the physical presence and to have all the album art to go with it.
@Robin G.: HA!
The Populist - March 18, 2010 | 8:24 pm · Link
Cd price lowering = market pressures but there is still some value in the old format in terms of lossless audio (until the bandwith improves so much that people can buy a lossless recording on Itunes, E-Music or Amazon MP3).
Viacom suing YouTube = if they really wanted to prove something they could have sued YT’s parent Google and go after blogs that offer free downloads of movies.
The Populist - March 18, 2010 | 8:26 pm · Link
@burnspbesq:
The physical formats (bluray, CD, DVD) much like vinyl, will survive. It won’t be the dominant format but it will mean less deeper titles as the media companies offer them in the cheaper download formats.
For me it’s still about wanting to own the music I like with a lossless physical CD w/ art, etc BUT I buy a lot of download music as well.
Freedom of choice is good and no matter what, it’s good to see the labels wake up and price the CD accordingly. Shoot, I see deeper catalog titles on Amazon for under $6 so it’s all good.
burnspbesq - March 18, 2010 | 8:28 pm · Link
@Fencedude:
“Fuck vinyl”
You can get your dick into that teeny little hole? How sad for you.
MTiffany - March 18, 2010 | 8:32 pm · Link
@Warren Terra:
Who knows? Maybe the Brits are just more willing to acknowledge ‘entertainment’ as being the disposable product that it is.
Xenos - March 18, 2010 | 8:35 pm · Link
@burnspbesq: He collects 45s.
gbear - March 18, 2010 | 8:41 pm · Link
@Xenos: Yea, but they’re import 45s.
Anne Laurie - March 18, 2010 | 8:43 pm · Link
@MTiffany:
Pshee, McArdle doesn’t waste her Galtian funds on anything as old-fashioned as manufacturing or product. She’s heavily invested in shorting “sliced” sub-prime commercial real estate mortgages… in China ! ! ! It’s all about Tha Next Big Thing, when you’re a
moranglibertarian!Tax Analyst - March 18, 2010 | 8:51 pm · Link
Well, I like this news. Like many of the other commenter’s above I prefer the CD format to downloaded music, and for the same variety of reasons: Physical ownership, better sound reproduction, album information and notes, the cover art, dominant obsessive-compulsive hoarding trait, etc.
I’ve also found that having the physical CD’s and looking through them now and then often prompts me to go back and play some of the ones I like but haven’t gotten around to listening to in a while.
I probably buy 10 to 15 music CD’s a year. I believe Universal Records handles one artist whose music I always make it a point to buy.
Kiril - March 18, 2010 | 8:57 pm · Link
The really bizarre thing to me is that I finally gave up on CDs because I bought a used truck that had a tape player in it. Now it’s all iPod and a 12-pack box with a bunch of “Check Your Head”-era tapes in it.
Roger Moore - March 18, 2010 | 8:58 pm · Link
@Warren Terra:
Are you watching the same prices I am? There are plenty of movies and TV shows that get marked down drastically and finally wind up in the remainder bin. I’d guess that that the vast majority wind up that way. It’s the small minority of true classics that don’t wind up heavily discounted.
PeakVT - March 18, 2010 | 9:14 pm · Link
@AhabTRuler: What sites do you like for used CDs? I used to buy a lot from Djangos until it folded, and I haven’t found a store that I really like since then.
DougJ - March 18, 2010 | 9:28 pm · Link
If she didn’t exist, we’d have to invent her.
JBerardi - March 18, 2010 | 10:00 pm · Link
Somewhere, Ian MacKaye is laughing.
Lee - March 19, 2010 | 8:38 am · Link
I’ve got 2 daughters (10 and 13).
We were in Target and I asked them if they wanted to go look thru the CDs for music.
Their response was “Why?”
The record companies have lost the youth. If my oldest cannot find the song/group on iTunes she asks me to find it for her and I download the torrent.
twiffer - March 19, 2010 | 11:05 am · Link
@Warren Terra: have you never perused the $5 bin?
Sandy Tomidy - March 19, 2010 | 8:12 pm · Link
That was a fun comment. Thanks for reading and for taking the time to leave word that you were here and got something from it.