the mp3.com catalog isn’t dead – it’s trusonic
it turns out that the vast mp3.com catalog wasn’t destroyed, it was co-opted (as in opt-out) by trusonic for background music.
of course, this doesn’t do a lot for the musicians that put their music into this catalog, but it gives vivendi and trusonic some revenue. whoups. left those artists behind? that’s going to come back and hurt you in the long run, guys, because you’ve broken the trust of the people you need to stay in business. you’ve traded something that was short-term and legal (i’m sure it’s all covered in the agreements) for the bigger picture.
this gets a nomination from me for the tim oren dubious distinction awards.
trusonic may be able to stay under the radar and out of the light, but every artists that gets screwed by this maneuver will remember, and will share. and vivendi, or c-net or whatever ends up running mp3.com – and anyone willing to dig enough to uncover trusonic will never work with those people again. in the bigger picture, the artists that get the short end of this stick may not come back easily to any online music distribution arrangement, and that hurts everyone.
slashdot has discussion.