Is reselling an MP3 online really legal?
By Laura McNeill.
Redigi, a new company in the US, is proving to be rather
controversial with the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) demanding that business is ceased.
ReDigi describes itself as the world’s first online
marketplace to legally recycle, buy and sell used digital music files so that
customers can access high quality music downloads at a fraction of the price of
other music stores. Users can sell unwanted tracks and purchase music using
their computer or mobile device. When selling a track, the song for sale is
uploaded then removed from the sending computer. This earns the user a redigi
coupon which they can use to buy a song for a discounted price. When the songs
uploaded sell, the user earns credits which can be used to buy other songs.
Credits can also be bought and songs not in stock can even be ordered. Recycled
music files do not get scratched or damaged so they are guaranteed to be as
high quality as the original download.
But… is it legal?
ReDigi says “YES”. They claim their patent pending software
ensures tracks for sale are from a legitimate source, are eligible for resale
on ReDigi and any copies made by the seller have been deleted. The song is
removed from the hard drive and all synchronised devices as soon as it has been
confirmed for sale. They say their software guarantees two copies of the same
song are never in existence at the same time. The company also
say they will grant a portion of each sale to artists and record labels every
time a track resells.
ReDigi claims that the uploading process complies with the
first sale doctrine which says that the copyright holder gets
his or her royalties during the first sale, and does not have claims on it when
it is resold. The RIAA dispute this claim, as the file being sold is a copy
that ReDigi have made, and not the legally acquired copy that is resident on
the sending computer. The RIAA says ReDigi sells unlawfully copied songs and
cannot guarantee complete removal of the original from the owners’ hard drive.
The RIAA also claim the 30 second streaming service “constitutes wilful
copyright infringement” as they do not have a license to stream over the
internet. Due to this the RIAA demands that ReDigi suspends its operations and
quarantines its music files.
The law surrounding digital files is
complicated and the concept of a “used” digital file is hard to grasp. It
therefore raises a lot of questions. It seems it would be extremely difficult
for ReDigi to monitor fully whether copies of a song have been made and stored
on an external device. It is not illegal to sell a used CD, of which copies
could have easily been made, so if it was made illegal to sell a “used” digital
track, would the selling of second hand CDs (for example) also have to be
illegal?
It is also worthwhile considering whether
the business is even a threat to stores that sell “new” digital tracks. To buy
an original track on sites such as iTunes the cost is around 99 cents. ReDigi
offers tracks at 79c, or 59c if a song has been uploaded first by the user. If
the user does not want to spend 99c on an original track, it seems unlikely
that they would spend money on music at all and instead obtain the track for
free, illegally.
An opposing argument is that ReDigi should
be encouraged as an innovative way to stimulate the purchasing of legal digital
media, thus reducing piracy. ReDigi is not the first used MP3 store; others
such as Bapaboo have tried and failed before so it will be interesting to
monitor ReDigi’s success.
Let us know what you think, email: [email protected]
with your views.