I think the recent pricing disagreements publishers are having with Amazon are very interesting. There seems to be lots of pushing by authors and publishers for a greater share of the profits from the ebook seller Amazon.

Good luck finding any musicians pushing for greater share of profits from download shops.

Also, have you ever heard of any musician or advocate ever speak of the perils of devaluing music? Never.

Why can’t we be more like the publishing world and stand up for the value of our hard work?

Anyway, here is the related article:Read more...

Here’s a little price snippet on Apple’s e-book plans, care of an eleventh hour Wall Street Journal piece. According to the article, the gang in Cupertino is asking book publishers (HarperCollins was specifically cited) to set the price point for digital versions of hardcover bestsellers at either $12.99 or $14.00, “with fewer titles offered at $9.99.” The publisher apparently has the option to set its own price, but at any rate, Apple’s taking the usual 30% cut from each sale — a $14.99 novel would thus leave about $10.49 for the publisher. Full article

Ok, this is a great lesson for musicians. Notice how everyone acknowledges the value books have regardless of the medium they are distributed in? Have you ever heard anyone say that writers shouldn’t be paid for their books? Would Spotify CEO Daniel Ek be laughed out of business if he announced that he wanted to commercially exploit authors’ books and not pay them?Read more...

Appeals court OKs suit vs major music studios

A Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York today reinstated an antitrust lawsuit accusing EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner of illegal price fixing for digital music. Putting aside a dismissal from October 2008, Judge Robert Katzmann said there was enough evidence to “plausibly suggest” that the music labels might try to keep download prices artificially high through collusion.Read more...

Jean-Paul SartreA Paris court has found Google guilty of copyright infringement in a ruling which could have ramifications for its plans to digitise the world’s books.

Businesses like Google that base their products or business models on the wholesale stealing of works by thousands of creators are a far greater threat to our culture and economy than illegal downloading by individuals.

I’m sure as Google sets the standard for this new vile behavior numerous start up companies will follow…Read more...

Stephen CoveyStephen Covey’s digital rights deal with Amazon startles New York publishers.

Paul Aiken, head of the Authors Guild, pointed out that most ebook deals award authors 25% of royalties, which, given the lower costs of publishing digitally, is only about a half of the accepted rate in print books.

“Up to now that hasn’t been much of an issue, because the ebook market was so tiny,” Aiken said. “Now that’s changing, and authors with clout are starting to demand more.”

So, if writers can unite and raise royalty rates for digital downloads why can’t songwriters?

Anyone?Read more...