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Could Amazon’s Cloud Player Be Illegal?

Amazon may argue that functionally, their Cloud Drive service is the same as storing media on an external hard drive, but question marks hover over their Cloud Player, which streams those tracks from the cloud.

In the eyes of Sony Music – and possibly more record labels – this Cloud Player requires Amazon to sign extra licensing deals and presumably cough up some more money to boot.

Sony Music’s spokeswoman Liz Young told Reuters that they “hope that they’ll reach a new licence deal, but we’re keeping all of our legal options open”. Another rep said that Amazon’s last-minute move into streaming – without giving the record labels a chance to OK it – was “somewhat stunning”. No one’s going down on paper and pointing fingers that the Cloud Player might be illegal, but people are certainly whispering behind Amazon’s back that that might be the case. [Reuters]

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(5 Comments)
  • [–]

    Awnshegh

    Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 8:47 AM

    Wait a second are Amazon allowing you to stream music you’ve technically already paid for? If this is the case then in Australia at leas tit should be legal as we have provisions for format/device shifting.

    If of course this is a separate service form their actual store allowing you to stream songs using a separate costing model then of course the copyright holders are going to be unimpressed.

    Reply
  • [–]

    Tomas Medina

    Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    In tomorrow’s news headlines: RIAA sues Amazon for 75 Quadrillion Dollars. The day after’s news: Amazon claims they have a patent on suing for ridiculous stuff. Day after that? Amazon applies for patent on being complete twats, utterly wiping out the RIAA.

    Reply
  • [–]

    Nads

    Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 1:44 PM

    Yeah I think this will be found to be illegal. It is not the same as just a online storage system because it touts itself as a media player service.

    While I can see how this type of service would be cool to have, I can also see it from the side of the music biz as well and why they would be concerned.

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  • [–]

    rcentros

    Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 5:35 PM

    Okay. I buy a CD. Am I allowed to play that CD only in one CD player? Do I have to buy two CDs, one for the home CD player and one for the car’s CD player? (And heaven forbid I put it in my DVD player and listen to it there).

    Amazon’s Cloud Drive is a “cloud” hard drive. If I’m allowed to store music on a portable hard drive or thumb drive, what’s the difference? They’re not offering sharing with the deal. They’re letting you store your *legal* music on a hard drive so you can play it with whatever device you happen to want to play it with. Does Sony, and the other greedy scumbags, expect me to buy the same music for every device I might listen to it on? Is that “really* what would make this “legal?” What a pant-load.

    Good for Amazon. I signed up for service immediately and am listening to music I purchased there now. Sony can choke and die on their own greed, as far as I’m concerned. How much longer before musicians bypass the labels altogether and go directly to Amazon and other online services?

    Reply
  • [–]

    Troy MacDonald

    Friday, April 1, 2011 at 12:19 AM

    I dunno if this is related or not, but the PPCA (australian music public broadcasting group something something) try and charge you $800 a year as a reproduction license if you’re a business and wanting to rip your CDs to MP3s. In 2006 or so it got changed so that you do it for free personally since all the software around let you do it, but apparently if you cancel your license within 2 years, you have to delete all your music, but after that you’re “allowed” to keep it.
    That alone is half the reason I gave up being a ‘legit’ DJ.
    Though back on topic, from what I know about music copyright, this doesnt sound too legal…

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