Second-Hand Songs
By Harry McCracken | Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at 6:31 am
A startup called ReDigi wants to let you resell music you bought from online stores such as iTunes. This isn’t going to end well:
A legitimate secondhand marketplace for digital music has never been tried successfully, in part because few people think of reselling anything that is not physical. But last month a new company, ReDigi, opened a system that it calls a legal and secure way for people to get rid of unwanted music files and buy others at a discount.
The service has already drawn concern from music executives and legal scholars, who say it is operating in a gray area of the law. Last Thursday the Recording Industry Association of America, which represents the major record companies, sent ReDigi a cease-and-desist letter, accusing it of copyright infringement.
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4 Comments For This Post
November 15th, 2011 at 9:29 am
I cannot stand the RIAA, and have a problem with how they fought the used CD market. But I just cannot see how this could possibly work, no matter how much I would like it to.
November 16th, 2011 at 9:07 am
Regardless of one's view of the RIAA, this idea is ridiculous on its face. When reselling physical goods, the goods change hands. It is clear that the seller no longer owns the goods and that the buyer now does. With digital content, a copy is just as good as the original, so there's no way to enforce the transfer.
November 16th, 2011 at 10:48 am
I wish one could place bets on companies/idea like this. I'd be rich…
Call this one DOA
November 20th, 2011 at 3:52 pm
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