As the SOPA/PIPA protest actions were happening on 18 Jan 2012, I was trying to purchase and download from Amazon.com US$42.00 worth of music. (The music was the 1959 Wanda Landowska harpsichord performances of Bach: The Well Tempered Clavier, Books I and II, which of course fits nicely in with the vocal trance music I like).
But it turns out that I am unable to purchase and download mp3 files from Amazon because I live in the Caribbean. It is not a payment issue - I have been purchasing items from Amazon over the last few years. It is apparently a Digital Rights / Copyright issue over where the music itself can be sold, an issue that falls squarely with the RIAA.
Does this ban on mp3 sales to anyone outside the United States make sense to anybody living in the internet age, where downloads can be done to a purchaser in New Zealand or Vietnam just as easily as to someone in the US?
The copyright and licensing issues that divvied up the world for music and movies and publishing made have made sense in a pre-internet age, but they now actively hinder customers who are legitimately trying to purchase their wares.
Perhaps the RIAA could spend its time, effort, and money disentangling the contracts that create such a nuisance for its customers, they would make a lot more money. But I suppose that it is easier to blame those foreign pirates than it is to admit that your own business needs restructuring.
Meanwhile, I still want the music...where shall I get it?
Comments:
CL: Drat!! What of the UK. Let me do some enquiring....
JM: Nope. HMV won't sell me music either. Currently checking all digital online stores to see what is possible, a list of which is conveniently on Wikipedia.
There is sense of irony here that is hard to miss particularly since, in the words of Senator Chris Dodd, Chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, Inc. (MPAA) "It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms [like Wikipedia] that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests".
CL: Crickey!! It seems that the world has shut us off..... :(
JM: And then the RIAA wonders why piracy exists.
CL:
hummm
http://www.naxos.com/catalogue/item.asp?item_code=8.111061-63
Not sure naxos will sell you the mp3, you might have to wait for the CD box set? Drat....
Teehee...only in CD form....
JM: So far, Amazon (amazon.com), eMusic (emusic.com), CD Universe (cduniverse.com), and HMV (hmvdigital.com) won't sell me music in mp3 format. Rhapsody (rhapsody.com) won't let me stream music. Napster (napster.co.uk) won't let me in without an account and I don't like iTunes - maybe when I get desperate.
CL: :)
JM: It appears that Naxos will sell me the item in mp3 format, but though their affiliate?/subsidiary? Presto Classical - a site with a most irritating search engine / methods - I was referred to Volume II, but I can't find volume I, which I know they have.
KOC: So, is it unethical to use an IP hider to make it possible to PAY for such things?
JM: Unethical, no perhaps. However, under SOPA / PIPA, an IP hider like Tor could be illegal as (according to the Tor website) "...SOPA contained a provision forbidding "circumvention" of court-ordered blocking that was written broadly enough that it could apply to Tor -- which helps its users to 'circumvent' local-network censorship." So just using Tor to pretend I am in the US or legitimately purchase items may potentially be illegal.
JM: Success. Presto Classical has sold me the music in mp3 format and it is downloading even as we speak. I am happy that I found it, and gratified that it cost 29% less than if I purchased it on Amazon.
But other issues arise. Finding the music on Presto Classical's website was a chore - their search / browsing leaves much to be desired (though their checkout and purchase mechanism is excellent). The only reason I persevered was that there was not much choice. So...Presto Classical gets my money not because they are the best at what they do, but because of a web of Digital Rights agreements which serve no purpose to the customer.
Also, I only know about Presto Classical because a friend who is in the business of classical music pointed out the Naxos website that led to Presto Classical website. I suppose I would eventually have found it on my own - it ranks #7 on the Google search I eventually tried. But by then I would have been annoyed and not to willing to put up with their searching their site (see above). My next most likely step would have been, since I was already interacting with friends, to ask someone to borrow the music so I could copy it.
I would love the RIAA to explain how keeping this byzantine system where an entity can or cannot sell me what music, based solely on geography, enhances the customer experience and how it enriches them.
KOC: Hmm. What made Presto able/willing to perform the transaction? Are they exempt for some reason, or just small and technologically backward enough that they don't check whether the restrictions are being violated?
JM: @KOC: Nope they are large enough and do know where I live. But apparently they have rights for worldwide distribution of the album in mp3 form. Which may exclude Germany and Europe (use jpc), or the UK (use TownsendRecords or NaxosDirect.co.uk), or Australia (use descurio), or France which is apparently not part of Europe (use abielle musique), or Canada (use NaxosDirect.ca) or the USA (use Barnes and Noble). iTunes is also worldwide for at least some values of the word 'worldwide'.
Suppose you worked on both sides of the Atlantic - would you have to use different companies to download your music depending on your location? And apparently it matters if you buy the music via mp3 or by CD - I CAN purchase CDs from Amazon. Does any of this make sense to you as a customer?
JA: @JM: I've had the same problem in France buying music from the UK. It seems that this may not be DRM so much as Amazon purchasing electronic distribution rights by geographical zone. In my case, also, the music was classical (Hayden), but the selection was different on amazon.fr, amazon.co.uk, and amazon.com (which might be called amazon.co.us but for some accidents of history). In my case, I became frustrated and just didn't buy the music.
I agree, the recording industry (and not just of America) sets up a strange incentive system.
JM: @JA: Your are right. My terminology is incorrect and the term I am looking for probably is 'distribution rights'. While piracy is complicated, I'd like to recast the issue to substantially include the fact that the Music/Movie/Publishing industries are ACTIVELY PREVENTING individuals from purchasing their products. The industry loses the sale and the individuals resort to getting the music elsewhere (because eventually, we do).
I have been discussing classical music, but the reality is that I am currently blocked from purchasing ANY music in mp3 format from any of the popular music sites - the ones with large selections, good interfaces, good recommendations, and reviews by other people. You may not don't have that problem in France, but I do in Trinidad and Tobago, probably because the Music/Movie/Publishing industries consider us an insignificant market.
I would love to see a comparative mapping of 'countries which have access to music in mp3 format' and 'countries with high music piracy rates'.
JA: It appears to be between many countries, not just small ones like T&T. And I agree, it is a business model at odds with customers' expectations, and retraining customers to think it's reasonable not to be able to make purchases on the internet because of national artifacts of a web site seems counter-productive.