Digital music buyers could be able to sell their legally-owned files and buy second-hand tracks with online music marketplace ReDigi.
The company is currently fighting for its tight to re-sell digital music in the USA, but wants to expand into other media such as games, films and ebooks.
ReDigi’s software analyses your music library to see which tracks you bought online; if you want to sell them you get credit for other ReDigi purchases and they’re deleted from your online and personal storage.
Second-hand tracks cost as little as 49 cents, and since they’re sold individually, each one is in-stock or not, just like a real second-hand shop.
ReDigi’s founder, John Ossenmacher, told the Financial Times (paywall): “Property laws the world over have always been that if you buy something, you have the right to resell it.
“Companies like EMI [which owns Capitol Records] are trying to change the status quo by trying to take away people’s property rights and their rights to resell their goods just because they happen to be digital.”
ReDigi members also get a free Cloud store you can use anywhere and download to other devices using ReDigi’s software.
To stop free sharing, ReDigi watermarks all your eligible music, and if it finds it anywhere without a license, it’s deleted from your Cloud library and you can’t sell it any more.
ReDigi’s US future hangs on a New York court case brought by Capitol Records, but its lawyers believe an EU court ruling on reselling software has already opened the doors to operate in Europe.
January 18, 2013
How does ReDigi define eligible music?
Only music bought online can be re-sold on ReDigi, and this is currently restricted to iTunes and ReDigi itself, but hopefully Amazon and other legit services will be included.
Ripped CDs (technically illegal but never prosecuted) aren’t eligible, nor is music ‘acquired in some other way’.
Do artists get anything from ReDigi?
Musicians have never benefited from second-hand sales before, but artists who register with ReDigi will get a 20 per cent cut of any sales.
Can I earn money from ReDigi sales?
Credit from selling on ReDigi can be converted to cash, but it’s worth more for using on ReDigi. ReDigi members can also earn credit by buying new tracks on iTunes through ReDigi.
How can ReDigi know I don’t have another copy of music I’ve sold?
If you can keep it hidden from ReDigi’s software, then you could keep a sneaky copy, but they’re banking that all but the most dedicated freetards will find this too much trouble.
Not only will it make it near-impossible to use the ReDigi cloud on your phone or tablet, if a watermarked track is found without a license, it will be removed from your Cloud storage and you won’t be able to sell it.
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