Vivendi Offering MP3 Song for Sale

pmorelli writes: "Maybe there's hope for the media dinosaurs yet: According to News.com, Vivendi is teaming up with Maverick Records, MP3.com, RollingStone.com, GetMusic.com and MP4.com to offer a remix of a Meshell Ndegeocello track, 'Earth,' for $0.99 online. No restrictions, just a plain old MP3. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of her stuff, I just may pony up a whole buck to economically encourage this sort of behavior."

'bout time...

[davmoo]

I'm not a big fan either, but I'll gladly fork up a buck to offer support of the idea, in the hopes of encouraging more for the future. I'd like to see a million purchases of this one track for just that reason. Its about time some of the "biggies" got their heads out of their asses.

Most important comment in the article

[Nate Enderle]

"Sure, there is always a concern of piracy; there's always the concern of people illegally transferring things. But we feel the best way to combat that is by giving people a legitimate alternative, and this is a test to make that alternative available to them," I couldn't have said it better myself. This could be a viable alternative, although the price might be a little high. A 15 track CD at this price is just as expensive as a store bought version, without the extra goodies and higher quality. Still, if I were interested in the music, I would consider spending the buck just to support this practice.

Re:Who?

[Jonny 290]

Remember "Wild Night" by John Mellencamp? She was a guest singer/performer on that. And yes, that is her claim to fame, as far as I can tell. Well, that, and being a scary-looking bald lesbian.

This could be a good thing

[dweezle]

OK the price is a little high and she's not a big, big name, but you get an unprotected download to do with as you please.
So buy it and show support for the concept, check out the quality and if you're happy with that then send nice feedback
as a customer(lower price, different artist, etc) and give them a chance.

set-up

[asv108]

I really have no clue who the artist is but I can already hear what the RIAA will say. "We tried to sell MP3's on the Internet but nobody bought them because there was no digital rights management." "This is why we need the Hollings bill!"

How is it that....

[phyxeld]

Vivendi is teaming up with Maverick Records, MP3.com, RollingStone.com, GetMusic.com and MP4.com to offer a remix of a Meshell Ndegeocello track, 'Earth,' for $0.99 online.

How is it that when two people want to exchange mp3s, they just do it, but when a corporation wants to, they've gotta make it all complicated?

Re:This has got to be a symbolic gesture

[chuckcolby]

Yes, but you get a good read on marketability. Remember who the first band to release a CD? Neither do I. The studio execs deliberately chose a band that wasn't yet commercially viable in order to get a read on the viability of the medium. I think that's happening here, too... And they're doing it at a "break-even" price, to boot.

Just my .02

RIAA Hitchhiker anyone?

[caferace]

I'll bet you a buck (ok, 99 cents) that they encode a simple identifier into the MP3. Something of course you and I could get rid of in a heartbeat, but that Joe-User P2P wouldn't plan on.

Marked money, my friends. Something to think of....

Re:RIAA Hitchhiker anyone?

[acceleriter]

You could test that hypothesis for $2. You buy one, and have a friend buy one. Compare the two files byte for byte. If they're the same, they aren't marking them. If they're different, they might be.

I'd do it myself, but the thought of giving $2 to the DMCA-wielding assmasters at Vivendi is too much for my frail stomach to take, no matter how noble the cause of science.

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