4/18/2010 2:11:07 PM
Hello Donna,
This is a very good question and a tough one at the same time.
My answer is going to be a long one. So, my apologies up front as I try to explain our thinking behind what we do on Tune Society.
The Bigger Picture: "What Can Be Controlled & Not Controlled On The Internet?"
The first part of the answer has to do with the bigger picture of "what can be controlled and not controlled on the internet." Most internet and web companies now understand that It's impossible to fully control and track "how things are used" on the internet, just like it's impossible to totally "control" music and other intellectual properties being sold on the internet. (As you know, people have passed around CDs and DVDs for years, copying them from one computer to another and giving them to friends and family.)
We can create guidelines and policies for those using our service. But we cannot control the intellectual products 100% of the time.
Do we still care? Absolutely! But we know that dealing with this "distribution avenue" (the web) puts us in a certain category for "losses" (and people taking advantage of our products).
iTunes is a prime example of this. 2 years ago they changed ALL of their music tracks from having "protection software" embedded into every song they sold to having NO protection software embedded in all their songs. Why? Because they realized very quickly that they were not able to "control and protect" all of their music on the web...AND, they realized that they were inhibiting the amount of songs being sold by having the protection software on the songs.
After years of selling music on iTunes to millions of people all over the world their experience told them that the people who wanted to "abuse" the system would do so (whether there was protection software on their tunes or not) and the people who wanted to abide by the rules and "play fair" (so to speak) would do so...AND would buy MORE music if iTunes removed their protection software from their products.
So, they took off the protection software and allowed all of their tunes to be freely transferred between people and computers all over the internet.
Even though they state that "sharing" songs between people (who haven't properly purchased them) is illegal, they still removed the software.
Wow.
This is how iTunes continues to grow and take the number one place for music sales on the world wide web...period. And this is how Sony failed to do so. Sony focused on "protecting" and "hedging" and not allowing anyone else to share the music that they purchased...and Sony lost in the web music business.
This means that consumers didn't like the service that Sony offered...and liked iTunes much better. So, iTunes continued to grow and gain the market share all over the world.
What does more sales for iTunes equate to? it equates to more profit for the artists...and "yes"...it equates to more profit to iTunes as well.
So...with this said...WE CARE about people abusing our rules on Tune Society. We don't want that to happen. We care and we will take action against people that abuse our system. But we will not be able to "police" everyone who does this. It's just impossible on the net. We recognize this and move forward.
How do we take action? And are people required to post their movies on our "showcases" page after using Tune Society music?
First, "buyers" and producers are NOT required to post their movies on the Showcases page after they use Tune Society music in their movies. This page was created NOT to police users but to create a community where artists can see their work "in action" (so to speak) and start dialogues with producers, directors and editors about "how they use music", "what they are looking for"...and to give credit where credit is due.
RARELY are artists recognized for their music in finished movies. We created the "Showcases" page in an effort to change that. We want artists to be recognized for their hard work.
How does Tune Society take action if we become aware of an abuse? We first want to give people the benefit of the doubt. So our first course of action is to contact the person or entity that "may" be abusing our rules and ask them to stop abusing our rules. If they do not reply and do not change their actions then we take it to the next step. We notify the artist, who's music is being abused, and report what is being done with their music.
** Ultimately, because we are a "consignment based" company, the music is not legally ours at all. The music and responsibility of "usage" is ultimately up to the artist who owns and licenses the music.
Tune Society can take legal action against anyone who is abusing our company and the Tune Society website. But it's important to understand that legal action against people abusing artists' music is up to the artist and composer who owns the music.
Our last course of action is to send a "Notice of Cease & Desist" from our legal department to the person or entity that is abusing the music. We will confer with the artist to discuss what is the best action for the artist to take against the abuser. And then it is up to the artist (who owns the music) to ultimately decide how far to take the prosecution and legal action against the abuser.
This issue is very similar to another discussion that was posted on the Tune Society Forum the other day. An artist was asking about "how to monitor producers who were using music, licensed from Tune Society, on nationally broadcast shows." Everyone in the business knows that producers, production companies, TV stations and radio stations are required to "report" music cues to Public Rights Organizations (PROs) if they broadcast shows with music that is registered with a PRO under a certain artists' name.
Again, Tune Society can't enforce this. BUT, we CAN create a clause in our contract that people sign when becoming a Tune Society user that states they will "abide" by these rules and submit music cue sheets to PROs when they are using music licensed from Tune Society in broadcast shows.
Donna, thanks for submitting your inquiries and for caring about the process. We want all artists to know that their music is valuable and that we respect the product they have spent so many years developing.
I hope this has addressed some of your questions and concerns. Let's keep dialoguing about this so that we can come to "better solutions" as we go down the road together.
Stephen Vidano