Danish Company Says It Can Turn Piracy Into Real Money For Artist
Monetizing the millions of music tracks and other files traded illegally each day has felt more like a fantasy than a serious business opportunity. Bo Schønemann and René Nygaard of Denmark's 7 Sky Media say they've developed a system which makes that fantasy a reality and they are out trying to get the licenses to make it work.
“Our software is designed to play all digital files and locate the copyright holders regardless of where the file came from,” Schønemann told Comon.dk (via TorrentFreak). "We are the only company in the world that can offer the industry earnings from these vast quantities of music, from which they currently do not receive a single penny.”
7 Sky Media would embed its software in devices and a player. When a user plays pirated music on either, an ad appears and revenue is shared with rightsholders. Users can pay a small free go ad-free.
That means that for there concept to work, bit rightsholders and consumers have to agree to play along. But the pair is making headway “We’ve spent 3 years so far on agreements and contracts, this is not just an idea we have, but a real product.” according to Nygaard. Ane their intentions are noble: “My partner is from the music business and we will also use 7 Sky to help the ‘small’ musicians, partly by diffusion, so they can monetize their music without a record label.”
I would never buy a device with this software embedded in it.
Not because I may or may not have ill-gotten mp3s in my collection, but because I don’t want advertisers tracking me every time I play a song.
I also don’t want to be on a list of IP addresses that the RIAA will inevitably be subpoenaing 7 sky for, so they can sue anyone who, by virtue of using the device, volunteered the fact that they may have illegal downloads in their library.
I also don’t want to have to watch an ad for something that I ripped myself from my own CD collection. Labels, you already have my money. Stop trying to nickel and dime me after the sale.
Unless the devices were given away for free or at a substantially lower cost than their ad-free counterparts, (i.e. the reduced price Kindle), I can’t see consumers playing intentionally buying any device that forces advertisements on the end users with each use.
Amen!