When EMI was purchased by private equity firm Terra Firma I had high hopes. Here was a major player coming under control of folks with no ties to the music industry or to the ways things had be done – here was a chance to reinvent things from the top [majors] down. Alas nothing radical is likely to be tried.

In early April a glimmer of hope returned in my eyes when they hired former Google Chief Information officer Douglas Merrill, now president of the digital group at EMI, who had the following to say in an interview with C|Net – Will former Google exec help save the music industry?:

I’m passionate about data. For example, there’s a set of data that shows that file sharing is actually good for artists. Not bad for artists. So maybe we shouldn’t be stopping it all the time. I don’t know…I am generally speaking (against suing fans). Obviously, there is piracy that is quite destructive but again I think the data shows that in some cases file sharing might be okay. What we need to do is understand when is it good, when it is not good…Suing fans doesn’t feel like a winning strategy.

But he clearly has his work cut out for him as the Consumerist notes under the heading Bad Company,
EMI Says You Can’t Store Your Music Files Online. Now maybe he is the one to help remedy this situation but….

Today, MP3tunes’ CEO Michael Robertson sent out an email to all users of the online music backup and place-shifting service MP3tunes.com, asking them to help publicize EMI’s ridiculous and ignorant lawsuit against the company. EMI believes that consumers aren’t allowed to store their music files online, and that MP3tunes is violating copyright law by providing a backup service. (And we’re not using a euphemism here—it really is a backup/place-shifting service and not a file sharing site in disguise.)

“Court Ruling Denies EMI Access to Millions of Personal MP3 Files” [Michael Robertson]

Much is at stake — if you don’t have the right to store your own music online then you won’t have the right to store ebooks, videos and other digital products as well. The notion of ownership in the 21st century will evaporate. The idea of ownership is important to me and I want to make sure I have that right and my kids do too. – Michael Robertson

EMI: backing up music files online is illegal – Boing Boing
How EMI Wants To Steal Your Music – Medialoper

EMI has other issues to deal with as well:
EMI restructuring faces contractual obstacles – Reuters UK
Hands’ EMI bill could rise £170m – FT UK

Comment from idolator

I love when it’s the big company that gets screwed by the contract rather than the artists always being screwed. Doesn’t happen near often enough.

Related posts:

1. EMI = DRM Free on iTunes [they're just more expensive now]
2. EMI does something already done before [again] and people trip over themselves to spread the word [again]
3. Severe Structural Damage
4. Quickie Post: Puretracks now DRM Free
5. M|E: First step to success in the music industry