Japanese labels want 'iPod tax'

[nmskalmn]

Japanese labels want 'iPod tax'

By Jonny Evans

Japanese labels are pushing local lawmakers to impose a blanket tax on iPod sales, as they seek a slice of Apple's pie.

Music labels there have asked for a royalty between 2-5 per cent on the retail price of Apple's music players. Money collected would be shared between labels, songwriters and artists. It's explained as an attempt to compensate rights holders for home copying.

Consumers cry 'foul'

A similar tax imposed in Canada was overturned earlier this year by the courts in that country.

Reaction to the demands of Japanese firms has been critical. "This is typical of how industry groups try to manipulate government at the expense of consumers," Hiroko Mizuhara, head of the Consumers Union of Japan, told the New York Times.

Some labels continue to attempt to impede Apple's progress in Japan, with Sony Music Japan and Warner Music so far declining to license their content through the market-leading iTunes Music Store.

Labels want the money

Music labels - castigated by Apple CEO Steve Jobs as being "greedy" - want a lot from Apple at present. Ignoring Jobs' argument that any sudden price hikes in music download prices threatens to drive consumers back to illegal file-sharing, the labels want to raise prices. The labels call this "price flexibility".

The labels complain that Apple - which makes no significant income through music sales - makes money from iPod sales, and want a slice of that income, too.

Artists, meanwhile, are beginning to dissent with major-label opinion that music piracy is damaging to artists, not least because most major label contracts impose a far lower royalty-payment system on downloads.

Artists cry 'foul'

Artists are furious that they can receive as little as 4.5p from every 79p download, with the majority of the money going to the labels. While labels justify this by saying they have had to invest in anti-piracy initiatives, artists point out that they also subsidise such investments.

For musicians, the problem is compounded because digital music sales are the only industry sector seeing significant growth, while sales of physical formats decline.

Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies told The New York Times: "Recording industries on both sides of the Pacific are trying to find all kinds of schemes to make more money. They have this alternative commercial channel, and they're just trying to block it or tax it."

http://www.macworld.co.uk/news/index...ge=1&pagePos=1

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

Ah ha. Thats asshat worthy there Japanese labels.

[bulmasman]

"Make music download's legal and we're sure to be onto a winner"

a year later

"Grrrr all this download nonsense is causing us nothing but trouble"

[HvnSntGurl]

Well maybe if they didn't jack up cd prices people wouldn't go to iTunes as much and just pay a few dollars for the couple of songs they want.

[Brittany]

CD prices are insane enough in Japan
It's actually a pretty much better idea to sell music online you can download instead of walking to a store and buying the CD. Some people just want certain songs.

What am I talking about?
Ripping music and putting it onto an IPOD will never stop

[BanFan]

Ugh. The idea of downloading an album, legally or not makes me sad. I may download some songs, but never full albums to just keep and listen to forever. Buying actual cds is so much nicer. Just the idea of having the concrete thing instead of an mp3, with pretty booklets etc. Even if the booklet is nothing to write home about, it's the principle of the thing...

[stardusties]

^ I feel the same but you know...i do that too...but i do buy albums as well, only if i think they're really worthy while of have a really pretty booklets [like all ayu's so ima plan to buy all of them! ^^-]

[marty518]

I also always buy the CDs. I figure that if a song is good enough to be listened to, it's good enough to be paid for. Free mp3s are good for sampling only.
However, I think downloading legally is fine, too! Japanese record companies are just VERY greedy and horrible. I think Apple would be better off closing the iTunes Japan music store because the Japanese record companies will just be greedier and greedier.

[DA1SUK1DAY01691]

Originally Posted by BanFan

Ugh. The idea of downloading an album, legally or not makes me sad. I may download some songs, but never full albums to just keep and listen to forever. Buying actual cds is so much nicer. Just the idea of having the concrete thing instead of an mp3, with pretty booklets etc. Even if the booklet is nothing to write home about, it's the principle of the thing...

I do that, I download everything... Then I buy it anyways... So I feel no shame in doing it, because even though I download it, I still buy it.

[littlefairyfromnam]

And besides... sometimes it's better to dl certain songs you don't actually want the cd for. Say you're embarassed you like a song by an artist you despise *coughdothemotioncough* Sometimes it's better to just dl it and not have the physical evidence.

[Belinda]

Instead of buying the cd's I will just save and invest money into seeing my fave artists in concert
I don't know if the artist would rather me buy their cds or go to a concert but I can't do both so I will continue d/ling the songs (buying the single/album that I like very much) while saving that money for live performances

[Kaiouforever]

I always download songs to see if I like them, and if I do, I'll buy the CD. But quite honestly, Japanese artists make better songs IMO than American artists. For American music, I'll download it or buy it off iTunes, I almost never buy the actual CD, because I usually only like 1-2 tracks. But Japanese music, I almost always buy the CD, although they are insanely expensive. The tax seems like a silly idea, especially if the artists don't get anything from it. I could care less about the labels, I'd rather pay a tax and have it go to Ayu than Avex. I doubt the tax will come through, which means we won't be getting a lot of Japanese music on iTunes.

[nmskalmn]

I would gladly pay an extra tax on internet service, mp3 players, and media, IF the RIAA would ease up a little on the P2P universe, quit terrorizing ordinary users, and focus instead on the more abusive bootleggers. I don't think this will ever happen.

[extepan]

a tax on ipod isnt feasible. that's almost like ripping us off!!!