Updated from NZ Herald -
Music download deal bypasses NZ
Thursday August 31, 2006
By Jon StokesNew Zealand music fans will miss out on a free download service set to rock the international entertainment industry.
Universal Music, the world's largest record company, yesterday shook up the industry by announcing it would make its song catalogue available as free internet downloads.
The music will be available from Spiralfrog.com in the US and Canada from December, and become available in Europe in early 2007.
It will be one of the first sites to offer free music legally, allowing fans to download songs by some of the record company's list of artists, including U2, Gwen Stefani and The Roots.
Revenue will come from advertisements featured on the website, although questions remain over how the artists featured will be paid.
However, Universal Music New Zealand managing director Adam Holt said there were no plans to launch the service here.
It is understood the New York-based company will track visitors to the website through Internet Protocol (IP) address, preventing those from outside the United States and Canada from downloading the free tunes.
Mr Holt said there had been no discussions with Spiralfrog here, and few details were available on the nature of the North American model.
As the system was advertising-based there were doubts New Zealand had the population and level of online advertisers to support such a model, he said.
The Spiralfrog site is expected to combat market leader Apple's iTunes' service, which charges per song.
Downloads from Spiralfrog will not be compatible with iTunes' service and iPods.
The iTunes' service is also not available in New Zealand.
Shaun Davis, managing director of digiRAMA, a New Zealand website that charges uses per song for legal music downloads from four of the world's leading music companies, said it was too early to tell how the new model would impact on on-line music sellers.
He said moves toward free music were good for the industry in making it less attractive for listeners to download music from illegal websites.
American based Spiralfrog is also understood to be in talks with EMI, Sony BMG and Warner Music in hope of signing up more record labels.
- INDEPENDENT
How stupid. :@
Sure the headline might say NZ misses out but really it's the record companies in New Zealand who are the ones missing out. They could be making a truckload of money but no, we're stuck in the dark ages with no legal way to download music onto our ipods.
It doesn't really matter. We still cannot download those music onto our ipods. As they said, it's not iPod compatible. Let's just get them from Limewire shall we. Hehehe.
I was talking in general - there's no legal way to get music onto iPods in NZ.
Oh yeah.
Limewire all the way!!
its illegal hahahah! the biggest joke ever
Not just NZ. Australia too.
Limewire rules! I dont buy albums anymore now i just download it the albums i got cos i dont have the money and put it onto a cd
I know ive said this before.
Years ago on payday every Wednesday i use to buy 3 CD's of various artists. When i brought those CD's i brought the rights to those song tracks to listen to, so now i own the listening rights. I have the right to download those particular songs as much as i like because i actually brought the right to listen to them! No Record Company WONT be telling me i cant download and burn to a CD for my own listening pleasure. Ive heard it all before "ugh its illegal to download from the Net" its total rubbish! especially when you brought that particular track "legally" and own the right to listen to them. hehe
I havnt heard of a Court case yet contrary