'iPod tax' coming to Japan?

The country's music industry ask the government to charge a royalty on sales of portable music players.
The New York Times

The story "'iPod tax' coming to Japan?" published October 10, 2005 at 11:24 AM is no longer available on CNET News.

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[System Tyrant]

I crying for the record companies.

First off I do realize that piracy is costing the Music Industry a lot of money, but I think that Apple has shown the industry a new way to make money. Those bunch of cry babies just can't stand not making a mint of each song sold.

Personally, I think piracy of anykind sucks. That's why I don't buy music on CD's anymore. I like being able to buy individual songs. I look at it this way, put 10-15 good songs on a cd with 2-3 great songs and I will give you $10 for it. Put 1 great song on a CD with 10 crappy songs and charge $15-$20 for it and you can keep it.

Most of today's music sucks. It lacks any feeling or color. Not to mention most of it all sound the same. And by same I mean it all sounds exactly the same. I can't tell a lot of these bands or songs apart. Greenday rocks though.

[HayesA]

I disagree

<quote>
"First off I do realize that piracy is costing the Music Industry a lot of money" </quote>

Firstly, I disagree with that fragment; the music industry isn't loosing money because illegal downloading; at least not directly. Illegal downloading was caused by the MPAA, and the RIAA; or "The Industry", on the simple grounds that their product's value isn't worth the MSRP. Which you touched on here:
<quote>"I look at it this way, put 10-15 good songs on a cd with 2-3 great songs and I will give you $10 for it. Put 1 great song on a CD with 10 crappy songs and charge $15-$20 for it and you can keep it."</quote>
You're absolutly right; if "The Industry" would stop trying to steal our money by putting out CDs that arn't worth the disc the're burned on, then they would be happier because of "the salee." I can think of one really good suggestion, if your reading this, music industry, don't just put music on the discs, or albums, put more on them. Like videos of the band, or sneek peek videos of the band in concert. Backstage bloopers, or artist commentary; anything! To make them worth the 20 dollars you charge for them. Because I could buy 25 blank discs, and there I have 25 more albums for the price of 1. Which do you think i'm going to choose?

No, I'll stop when they stop; I know it sounds immature, but what choice do I have? Pay almost as much as I pay for gas when a new CD comes out, or pay the same price to get 25 times more?


Secondly, about this new "tax" in the making. I think it's insane to start to charge poeple extra just to listen to your music. If I were a musical artist, all i'd care is if people liked my music, not weither or not I can charge them to like it; That's poor business. Charge them once for a CD, that's acceptible. Charge them twice, that's going over board. Easy.

People really need to learn a valuable lesson about what the majority of the poeple want.

[DemiHampster]

F*ck Japan!

The poor Japanese record companies. It wasn't an issue when
Japanese companies were doing "business." But when Apple
finally negotiates their way through the the Japanese bueracracy
then a tax nneds to be installed. F*ck Japan!

[Russell McOrmond]

This is backwards! Recording industry should be paying tax!

There is a common misconception that claims that the consumer electronics industry benefits from the products of the recording industry, and that there should be a levy against the electronics industry to subsidize the recording industry. I simply don't understand the logic. Since the recording industry owes its very existence to technologies that allow for the recording, distribution and playback of music, in a just society we would be seeing a levy on the recording industry to help promote innovation in the electronics industry.

In our backward world we have Japan's recording industry asking for a levy on iPods. When are we going to see some sanity, such as a suggestion that a percentage of the revenues from major labels should go into a pool to promote innovation in the technology behind recording, distribution and playback of audio that the recording industry depends on?

Canadians please go to http://digital-copyright.ca/ to learn how to educate our government on this and important related issues.

[HayesA]

Here here, brother!

Send the RIAA a message; BOYCOTT THEM!
Anyone interested, go here. http://www.boycott-riaa.com/

Good stuff there.

[Taylor McLaren]

Sony wants to have cake, eat same

Japanese labels already accept widespread copying (which is not
the same thing as piracy): CD rental is a common practice in
huge chain stores, and the (insanely high) retail prices of CDs
reflect the fact that most people will pay 300 yen plus the cost
of a (subject-to-levy) blank MiniDisc instead of going to a store
and buying their own copy. And while these same labels might
not all have inked deals with Apple, they're certainly happy to
sell music online through one service or another (Sony's abysmal
Connect, etc.), so it's disingenuous at best to suggest that they
don't mean for it to end up on portable players.

What this has to do with license renegotiation, I'm not sure; it
looks like another story about established companies wanting to
slap a surcharge on other companies' new products... again. Why
do consumers continue to tolerate this?