Napster's Offer Not a Hit with Record Industry

Da_Taxman used our newssubmit to tell us:

Online song-swapping service Napster grabbed center stage with its five-year $1 billion offer to the recording industry for the right to use their music, but the world's biggest music labels didn't appear to be buying its act on Wednesday.



Some of the world's biggest record labels -- including Vivendi Universal's Universal Music and AOL Time Warner's Warner Music quickly expressed dissatisfaction with Napster's proposal on Tuesday, while EMI Group Plc Sony Music Entertainment issued a strong statement on Wednesday saying $1 billion was clearly inadequate. ``It's obvious to anyone that follows the music business that the numbers Napster proposed on Tuesday do not make sense for a $40 billion industry,'' Sony said.

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``They're not taking the illegal service down, they're still stealing from us but are asking us to trust them,'' one executive at another giant music company said. DETAILS STILL FUZZY

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Bertelsmann broke ranks with other labels and joined forces with Napster in October, vowing to transform the service.

The last part doesn't suprise me, since Bertelsmann (Owner of both BMG and Napster) has a financial interest in both companies, Napster and BMG records...

Oh well, we'll just have to wait how this will turn out, but the record labels aren't impressed by what appeared to be a generous offer.

Source: dailynews.yahoo.com

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