From: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org (oppositeview-digest) To: oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Subject: oppositeview-digest V2 #111 Reply-To: oppositeview@smoe.org Sender: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Errors-To: owner-oppositeview-digest@smoe.org Precedence: bulk oppositeview-digest Friday, September 15 2000 Volume 02 : Number 111 Today's Subjects: ----------------- OV: Winamp [Leah D Schenkenberg ] OV: Re: Winamp ["Jane Armstrong" ] OV: Damn! You go girl! (did I actually write that??!!>) ["Jen Woyan" Subject: OV: Winamp Is there a Del Amitri Winamp skin anywhere? Also, if anyone is familiar with Everclear and could answer a few questions for me off list, that would entitle you to god-like status. Leah Can we still be friends? Well, I guess that depends... How's the weather from so high? ~splender ________________________________________________________________ YOU'RE PAYING TOO MUCH FOR THE INTERNET! Juno now offers FREE Internet Access! Try it today - there's no risk! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/tagj. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 19:00:23 +0100 From: "Jane Armstrong" Subject: OV: Re: Winamp Subject: OV: Winamp > Is there a Del Amitri Winamp skin anywhere? > > Also, if anyone is familiar with Everclear and could answer a few > questions for me off list, that would entitle you to god-like status. > Yes - someone on OV designed a full set of skins with most or all of the albums on - they're pretty good - I especially like the HOR one as it's bright and colourful. There is a link from Kevin's Free For All Links page to http://www.my-mail-box.freeserve.co.uk/da.html which is where they all were - but I'm getting a Page Not Found message. I think the designer's name was Jason Dale - are you still here Jason????? Jane ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 14 Sep 2000 21:29:48 -0500 From: "Jen Woyan" Subject: OV: Damn! You go girl! (did I actually write that??!!>) http://www.upside.com/News/39c0353b0.html Courtney Love demands some MP3.com cash September 14, 2000 09:07 AM PT by Ryan Tate In the nine months since it filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against MP3.com (MPPP), Universal Music Group has said over and over again that it is battling the online music portal to protect the financial interests of its legendary stable of performers. After it said as much in court papers, a federal judge ordered MP3.com to pay Universal between $120 million and $250 million in damages on Sept. 6. But Universal recording artists will never see a dime of that cash, one of the label's most prominent musicians, Courtney Love, now says. And so, the Grammy Award-winning singer says she will turn the tables on Universal and ask a court to fine the company for stealing her music. Long an outspoken critic of the record industry and its Internet strategy, Love made her statements Saturday in "Pho," an email discussion list focused on online music. (Brooke Barnett, Love's high-profile webmaster, confirmed that the message in question was, indeed, sent by Love.) Universal was very clear It's understandable that Love would expect that Universal would share its multimillion-dollar windfall with its musicians. Universal executives said in court papers, on Web pages and in one well-publicized speech that they were battling MP3.com at least partly to protect Universal's performers, a group that includes everyone from rap star Eminem to soul crooner Barry White to Love's own grunge-rock band, Hole. Universal's most vigorous defense of its artists came in May, when Edward Bronfman Jr., the CEO of Universal parent Seagram (VO), spoke at a conference sponsored by RealNetworks (RNWK). "We will fight for our rights and those of our artists, whose work, whose creations, whose property are being stolen and exploited," Bronfman said, according to Seagram's website. Speaking again of the artists and the MP3.com suit, Bronfman added, "Had those donors [the artists] been compelled to do what they have done [post their music on the Internet for free], it would be a tale not of generosity but of coercion, not of liberality but of servitude. "Those whose intellectual property is simply appropriated on the Internet or anywhere else, are forced to labor without choice or recompense, for the benefit of whoever might wish to take a piece of their hide." Universal also trumpeted the financial interests of artists in legal papers. Trying to convince a judge to issue a summary judgment against MP3.com, its lawyers wrote in February that, "Recording artists are compensated for their creative efforts and monetary investments largely from the sale of phonorecords to the public and from license fees received for the reproduction, distribution, digital performance, or other exploitation of the sound recordings on such phonorecords ... The My.MP3.com service is built on ... unauthorized reproductions." Universal was represented in the MP3.com case not only by its lawyers but also by the Recording Industry Association of America, an industry group. The association defended the lawsuit in a "Q&A" section of its website, saying the litigation would further the interests of musicians. "The majority of artists, musicians, and other members of creative professions want to be compensated for their efforts -- and like anyone else who invests hard work and creativity, they have the fundamental right to decide which innovative business models they want to pursue and which they do not," the page stated. "The problem is that MP3.com didn't even ask." But according to Love, Universal does not plan to give its musicians any of the money it receives from MP3.com, despite its rhetoric about the performers' "hard work and creativity." "They're claiming that Internet file downloads are covered by the same license as, ahem, 'record clubs,' and thus we are owed nothing," she said in her email posting. "I call this racketeering and so should you." One day after receiving a copy of Love's email, Universal spokeswoman Grace Salafia declined to comment, saying only "It is not our policy to comment on pending litigation." Indeed, Universal is still tied up in court with MP3.com, and there are no guarantees about the size of the damages the court will eventually award. While Judge Jed Rakoff has ruled that MP3.com will have to pay $25,000 for each Universal album it loaded into an online music database, he has not determined how many albums qualify for the fine. Universal claims there were 10,000 but MP3.com has said there were, at most, 4,700. And there could be far fewer, says MP3.com, since many of Universal's copyrights predate a 1970s change in intellectual property law. What's more, it is possible Universal and MP3.com will eventually reach an out-of-court settlement, although it is not clear why Universal would be any more inclined to share settlement proceeds with its musicians than fines. Whatever the eventual size of MP3.com's payment to Universal, Love is not alone in wanting a cut of it. Inside.com reported Tuesday that independent record label Zomba, which puts out records from Britney Spears, 'N Sync, Backstreet Boys and others, made its own grab for MP3.com cash. After the company filed suit seeking Universal-sized damages from the online portal, industry players began watching for an indie-label pile-on. Dre lawyer says Love is 'misguided' While it might fit neatly aside other legal grabs for MP3.com cash, Love's promised lawsuit raises as many questions as it answers. Even Dr. Dre's carnivorous lawyer Howard King does not buy the idea that Universal would take hundreds of millions of dollars without giving any to its artists. "I think she's misguided," he said of the singer's email message. That's coming from a guy who is seeking upwards of $20 million in piracy damages from music-swap firm Napster on behalf of Dre and heavy-metal band Metallica. For one, says King, paying musicians based on record club royalty rates would not leave them with "not one dime," the amount Love says Universal will give artists. While record companies do pay a reduced rate for record club sales, says King, the rate is substantial -- not zero. What's more, the lawyer adds, it would not make sense for Universal to promise or refuse royalties in advance of a final damages ruling or settlement. Indeed, he says, record labels do not account for royalties but twice a year, and the ballpark MP3.com fine was handed down just eight days ago. In the end, King expects all of the five major record labels to hand over some of their MP3.com money -- an estimated $20 million each for the companies who settled -- to musicians. "It's going to take some work to figure out a fair split," he said. (Aside from Universal, the other major labels are Sony (SNE), EMI, Bertelsmann's BMG and Time Warner's (TWX) Warner Music Group.) King added that there is no doubt that Universal-affiliated musicians, including Dr. Dre, should get a portion of any damages from or settlement with MP3.com. "It's damages in lieu of retail sales [Universal] otherwise would have made and had to pay royalties on," he said. But, again, he does not believe that Universal will withhold any money. Love could not be reached for additional comment, either by email or through Barnett. ------------------------------ End of oppositeview-digest V2 #111 **********************************