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Music

Bruce Willis VS Apple (Sort Of)

OK, the cat fight was a hoax, but it raises some interesting points about digital ownership.

Bruce Willis is dead. What’s gonna happen to his mp3 collection? Depending on what you've read over the past couple of days, Bruce Willis either is or isn’t suing Apple, over what’s going to happen to his apparently gigantic iTunes library when he dies. Cool story, bro.

Sadly, his wife yesterday ruined any fantasies of him taking on The Man with Molotov cocktails and "yippie kay yays", set in the yet-to-be-built monster Apple HQ, after confirming the story that went viral was a hoax. But what the story did do, was kick up an almighty shitstorm around the subject of digital ownership.

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The point’s already been made, that maybe if Bruce had actually read that bit that everyone ignores before clicking "I Agree", then maybe he wouldn’t have found himself in this predicament. But who does that!? The problem lies in the fact that the distribution rights to the music he’s "purchased" are not part of the deal, so when it comes to passing the music on, he would've been a bit fucked.

Hang on…rewind. Let’s go back to CDs. In fact, let’s go back to that equivalent bit on CDs that nobody reads: "The copyright in this sound recording is owned by [insert appropriate record label]. All rights reserved. Unauthorized copying, reproduction, hiring, lending, public performance and broadcasting prohibited." In other words: "You don’t own the music, dickhead. You just own the CD." Difference being, you can pass a CD to your mate, or your daughter, or your grandma’s dog when you die (or even when you don’t die) without some annoying pop-up getting in the way and stopping anyone from playing it. Nothing’s changed, except a few smug pricks are making mad coin off the back of those fucking pop-ups.

Fundamentally, the story had a point, it is a bit of a con. Apple are leading people to believe they’re buying music, when they’re actually not - even Apple don’t own the music they’re selling. But, if listening to a song until you die isn’t enough, then what the fuck is? How about deserting iTunes altogether? It’s not like it’s the only option. If it’s music on your (probably Apple-made) mp3 player you want, get Spotify. Or if you hate the system that much, get yourself all wound up, put an eyepatch on and thieve the songs (RIP Pirate Bay). If it’s family heirlooms you want, buy a butt load of vinyl, pass them on to your kids when you die and don’t buy them a record player. They’ll probably get about the same amount of play as the shitty-old-man-mp3s you were going to leave them anyway.

It’s not that iTunes is on its way to an HMV moment in the near future, but music distribution is in a state of flux, and if Apple don’t do a job that satisfies, someone else will. Fuck taking them to court, the digital distribution of music should dissolve the monopolies of old and make music more accessible. So why let the power sit in the hands of so few? So thanks, Bruce Willis, for pointing that out.

Follow Jim on Twitter @jim_pilling