WILL RULING QUASH INNOVATION.Byline: Jesse Hiestand Staff Writer If the $118 million verdict against MP3.com buys Universal Music Group and the music industry anything, it's time It's Time was a successful political campaign run by the Australian Labor Party (ALP) under Gough Whitlam at the 1972 election in Australia. Campaigning on the perceived need for change after 23 years of conservative (Liberal Party of Australia) government, Labor put forward a - time to find their way online, analysts said Wednesday. Upstaged by upstarts like the free song-swapping service Napster and music downloader MP3.com, the five major labels have fumbled for the right formula to sell their tunes over the Web. Now with MP3.com reeling reel·ing n. Maine Sustained noise, as from hammering: "Hark that reeling, now, you'll wake the baby!" Anonymous. from a potentially fatal blow, the industry has a chance to take make a stronger presence in this emerging field, industry observers said. ``It's going to keep everyone else on the sidelines On the sidelines An investor who decides not to invest due to market uncertainty. on the sidelines Of or relating to investors who, having assessed the market, have decided to avoid committing their funds. as far as creating legitimate ways of getting music online,'' said Heath Terry of Credit Suisse The Credit Suisse Group (SWX:CSGN, NYSE: CS) is a financial services company, headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. It is the second-largest Swiss bank, behind UBS AG. First Boston's office in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden . ``MP3.com was by and far the most copyright-conscious service on the Internet and they got hit with what could be a $250 million verdict.'' The amount of damages will depend on how many of Universal's compact discs MP3.com put online for people to listen to if they could prove they already owned a copy. While estimates vary on how many discs MP3.com was found to have willfully willfully adv. referring to doing something intentionally, purposefully and stubbornly. Examples: "He drove the car willfully into the crowd on the sidewalk." "She willfully left the dangerous substances on the property." (See: willful) infringed upon, each will draw $25,000 in damages. The San Diego-based Web company has already also set aside $150 million to cover legal expenses and the settlements it reached with the other four major labels before trial. ``There's no way they're going to survive if Universal collects $250 million,'' said David Bench, an analyst with Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . ``How they will survive is if they cut a deal with Universal before that. This definitely gives Universal more leverage in terms of negotiation.'' Analysts largely said MP3.com blundered in not getting the labels' permission to post the albums on its controversial ``MyMP3.com'' service. The industry has shown even less tolerance for Napster, where people can freely download Top 10 hits, obscure tracks, even whole albums before they are released. The five major labels banded together to get Napster shut down in July, but it remains online pending an appeal. But for all its opposition to these services, the record industry has not offered any other means of getting music that the public has embraced. Insiders said the main stumbling block stum·bling block n. An obstacle or impediment. stumbling block Noun any obstacle that prevents something from taking place or progressing Noun 1. was preserving copyright, which the rulings in these two cases appear to bolster. ``Right now it's all about slamming the brakes on any innovation out there so they can figure this out first,'' Terry said. Both the Napster and MP3.com cases were also closely watched because they had broad implications for Internet content. ``This definitely set a precedence The order in which an expression is processed. Mathematical precedence is normally: 1. unary + and - signs 2. exponentiation 3. multiplication and division 4. for copyright issues in general, whether it's music or videos,'' Bench said. ``It shows you don't step on the toes of the big companies.'' For now, MP3.com will continue to serve as one of the leading sites for thousands of aspiring musicians who post their songs and press kits, hoping to gain exposure, Bench said. One such musician, Brett White Brett White (born April 8 1982 in Cooma, New South Wales) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer. He plays for the Melbourne Storm in the National Rugby League. , said he doubts MP3.com will fold even if the staggering damages are enforced. ``It's still going to be a warehouse of unknown music and it doesn't take much money to maintain that server space,'' said White, 34, of Hollywood. ``But it will probably shut down the ways they're trying to be innovative.'' CAPTION(S): box Box: mp3.com FACES THE MUSIC Jon Gerung/Daily News |
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