New Online Service Aims to Coordinate CD Swapping

By | March 8th, 2006 comments icon (2) Comments


dmcaYou can bet your bottom dollar that the RIAA is about to blow a fuse over a soon to be unveiled online service that aims to facilitate the trading of CDs between members (via Digital Media Thoughts). La la Media Inc. will charge $1 (plus $.49 shipping) for each used full-length CD traded through their site and is a new twist on the practice of song swapping. The site provides prepaid envelopes to facilitate the trading of CDs between members. La la has indicated that they are also talking with major music labels to obtain licenses for selling digital music.

The company also enables members to buy CDs new if they can’t get it for trade. Eventually, La la intends to sell digital album downloads at retail prices, but does not intend on selling downloads of individual songs. Utilizing an exception (read: loophole) in the U.S. Copyright Act, the founders of La la argue that their service is legally sound because the owner of a CD can transfer that CD “without permission or payment of additional royalties.” Talk about walking a fine line! No word yet on the URL or launch date, but when we hear something, we’ll report back here.





Filed in: Content Providers

  • melvin

    Great idea!

    I can’t imagine there would be any legal issue with this at all. They’re doing the same thing any used CD store is doing, just speeding up the process. If the RIAA was going to challenge this, they’d have to take on every used CD store

    The way I see it, La La media can’t be responsible for someone making an illegal copy of a CD anymore then a used CD store is.

    The interesting thing is, if this catches on with the consumer, it could very well be the hammer that changes the music industry the way everyone wants it to change, or atleast to something else. I don’t imagine consumers would have the same ethical problems with making copies of the music, and there would be no way to track if an illegal copy is made without an invasion of privacy.

    At the very least, it would drastically cut sales of older tracks since a big reason people don’t shop at used stores now is the limited inventory. With a unlimited nationwide inventory at $1 a piece, you’d be crazy to buy a new copy of a Flock of Seagulls album.

  • Andrew McLaughlin

    This would be even better for DVD’s.