• news
  • TUESDAY NOVEMBER 15 2005 8:00 AM

Virgin Out to Fuck Napster

Submitted by Shal

Edited by Shal

Virgin has launched Red Pass, a music downloading service with artists from over 15,000 different labels that allows you to download as much as you want for $7.99 a month, and with no contract required.

Users can choose from more than 2 million tracks representing at least 15,000 record labels, said Zack Zalon, president of Virgin Digital. Red Pass also provides 60 professionally programmed Internet radio stations, CD ripping and burning provisions and a host of other new features.

"We created this service because we wanted people to listen to and discover more music than they ever have before," he said. "Granted, the digital music space is becoming more populated, but we believe our 35-year history in music enables us to offer consumers a certain level of musical expertise that other services simply can't provide."

One of Red Pass' unusual features is that users can let their subscription lapse, yet all of their downloaded music and options will be restored when the account is reactivated. Additionally, all purchased tracks will be replaced free should a user's computer crash or be lost or stolen within a year.



Sorry, Apple fans... Virgin Red Pass is not yet compatible with Mac OS X, and songs can't yet be loaded onto an iPod. The program supports players and mobile phones from Dell, Creative, iRiver, Samsung, RCA, Motorola, Alienware, Rio, and Archos, and they claim to be adding more support on a daily basis.

You can even try the service for free to see if you're into it.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a free trial to check out...

  • PERMALINK
  • PRINT
  • Digg This
  • Email To A Friend
 

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3

Next

Comments
Lufy

Lufy

Ithaca, NY
May 2004

NOV 15, 2005 03:23 PM

Cyberbrak said:
Best story title EVER!!!!!!!!



No kidding. biggrin If the title comes true, I guess they won't be able to call their company "Virgin" anymore.

jake_lex

jake_lex

Lexington, KY
February 2003

NOV 15, 2005 03:27 PM

hell said:
Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??



And you get to send your credit card number to a pretty much illegal website based in Russia. tongue tongue tongue tongue

FridgeMagnet

FridgeMagnet

Chicago, IL
November 2004

NOV 15, 2005 03:30 PM

Shalome said:

Dubhglais said:
Got to wonder how the artists themselves are going to make a living if their work is being sold for pennies, and in this case potentially less if the user downloads huge quantities of music.



Because the artists themselves make very close to nothing off music sales. Most of their money comes from touring and merch sales.



And contract advances and signing bonuses, and publishing rights. Just to round out the list wink

almostfamous

almostfamous

NEWSWIRE

United Kingdom

NOV 15, 2005 03:38 PM

PurePhase said:
Whoah wait, I don't own an Ipod, but I was thinking about getting one...If I understand correctly, you can only upload MP3's you've downloaded off of Itunes on to your Ipod? If this is the case all the MP3's on my computer are useless, in which case fuck Macintosh. If I pay them a couple of hundred bucks for their player I should be able to use it however I damn well please. It's like selling someone a dinner plate and then telling them they're only allowed to eat Arby's off of it.

Unless of course I'm mis understanding something here confused



you can upload any mp3 you've ripped yourself or downloaded illegaly. it's only tracks that use the protected WMA format - basically tracks bought from rival services to itunes - that you can't.

really it's like mcdonalds selling you a plate and telling you you can eat anything you want off it, except burger king. if you like burger king, don't buy the plate. but burger king won't let you eat mcdonalds off their plates either.

venomkid

venomkid

I'm lost
January 2003

NOV 15, 2005 03:43 PM

Shalome said:

Dubhglais said:
Got to wonder how the artists themselves are going to make a living if their work is being sold for pennies, and in this case potentially less if the user downloads huge quantities of music.



Because the artists themselves make very close to nothing off music sales. Most of their money comes from touring and merch sales.



It's actually really good for small time artists. I make more money off of an album if someone buys it from iTunes because I don't have to shell out a CD or pay various other fees.

Margot_Dent

Margot_Dent

Los Angeles, CA
February 2004

NOV 15, 2005 03:47 PM

jake_lex said:

hell said:
Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??



And you get to send your credit card number to a pretty much illegal website based in Russia. tongue tongue tongue tongue




it's legal damn you!

venomkid

venomkid

I'm lost
January 2003

NOV 15, 2005 03:50 PM

Margot_Dent said:

jake_lex said:

hell said:
Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??



And you get to send your credit card number to a pretty much illegal website based in Russia. tongue tongue tongue tongue



it's legal damn you!



Nope.

Margot_Dent

Margot_Dent

Los Angeles, CA
February 2004

NOV 15, 2005 04:05 PM

venomkid said:

Margot_Dent said:

jake_lex said:

hell said:
Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??



And you get to send your credit card number to a pretty much illegal website based in Russia. tongue tongue tongue tongue



it's legal damn you!



Nope.



legal....enough?

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
oh well, i use limewire 99% of the time, anyway. Legal THAT.


Baise

Baise

USA
January 2005

NOV 15, 2005 04:09 PM

FridgeMagnet said:

Shalome said:

Dubhglais said:
Got to wonder how the artists themselves are going to make a living if their work is being sold for pennies, and in this case potentially less if the user downloads huge quantities of music.



Because the artists themselves make very close to nothing off music sales. Most of their money comes from touring and merch sales.



And contract advances and signing bonuses, and publishing rights. Just to round out the list wink


But only if you're lucky enough to have certain types of contracts, and most artists don't see squat from anything you mention here.

Any kind of advance is recouped from record sales--any imbecile with basic industry knowledge is aware of this. However, how many artists actually receive advances that cover much more than recording expenses? Some artists (like those on smaller indie labels) don't even get that much.

As for publishing rights...my best friend's dad works for ASCAP, and he's explained a few things about this. Any organization that's a member of ASCAP (radio stations, MTV, stores and restaurants that play music, etc.) pays fees depending on what type of business it is--media outlets pay per song used, while stores and eating establishments pay a flat annual membership fee. The manner in which this money is distributed amongst artists depends entirely on what percentage of airplay a musician or band gets. Basically, you aren't in heavy mainstream rotation, you don't get checks from ASCAP, yet if you wanna be in rotation AT ALL, you have to publish through them. (I'm pretty sure BMI and SOCAN both operate in similar ways.)

So yeah...you're wrong. tongue

jake_lex

jake_lex

Lexington, KY
February 2003

NOV 15, 2005 04:11 PM

Margot_Dent said:

venomkid said:

Margot_Dent said:

jake_lex said:

hell said:
Wow, Virgin's Red Pass service is as bad as Napster's. Big fucking deal.
I just go to allofmp3.com and put what I buy on my Ipod. And I actually get to *keep* my music. How bout that??



And you get to send your credit card number to a pretty much illegal website based in Russia. tongue tongue tongue tongue



it's legal damn you!



Nope.



legal....enough?

SPOILERS! (Click to view)
oh well, i use limewire 99% of the time, anyway. Legal THAT.





Even if we assume it's 100% legal, I won't go to it for the same reason I don't leave my car unlocked in the worst neighborhood in town; that's legal, but highly inadvisable.

I mean, Russia's not a model of cyber security. tongue

Tangus

Tangus

Chicago, IL
November 2005

NOV 15, 2005 06:08 PM

NickFaust said:
Assholes!

Why would they not support the player with the most market penetration?

Assholes!


hehe, you said penetration.

then asshole.

malkav11

malkav11

Saint Paul, MN
July 2003

NOV 15, 2005 09:01 PM

emilygee said:
God damn I wish that these corps would just play nice and come up with a uniform DRM that works across platforms for both movies and music. I refuse to purchase multiple devices to create a digital library of media.



I wish they would just give up DRM as a lost cause and let you do what you want with your music, personally. They sure aren't stopping piracy.

As for this new service.. *shrugs*

If I want to pay monthly for music, I think I'm probably better off with something like satellite radio. And I don't want to.

stainedecho

stainedecho

Bloomington, IN
September 2005

NOV 15, 2005 11:59 PM

This is still bullshit. They didn't get rid of what makes being a Napster user so shitty. The fact that you pay them money and you don't OWN any of the music you download. You'd be better off buying a CD. You actually own the rights to that music to play and keep as long as you want. With these download agencies you only "own" the music for as long as you're a member.

Autrix

Autrix

San Francisco, CA
January 2004

NOV 17, 2005 12:19 AM

Great headline.

TheJelly

TheJelly

I'm lost
October 2005

NOV 17, 2005 12:35 AM

awwwwwwesUUUUM!

Previous

PAGE: 

1 | 2 | 3

Next

featured interviews