Is it really legal to sell your DRM-free music files?
Here’s the scenario: you have a hard drive full of MP3s you don’t really listen to anymore. The standard response would be to just delete the files. What about the value locked up in those particular digital bits? What about the idea of just selling those old dusty MP3s? If that sounds like an wacky idea, then you might consider the person behind Bopaboo crazy.
Bopaboo is a website designed for people to sell their MP3 files online. A sale is made, the website takes a percentage. Not only is this person not running with the idea with the website, but is also proposing the idea to members of the Recording Industry Association of America.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation pointed to the recent report on CNET which confirms that this story isn’t straight from the pages of The Onion.
The legality of the website, according to the report, hinges on the first-sale doctrine which permits people to re-sell their old used albums when they don’t want it anymore. The problem is that an MP3 is digital and if one wants to sell it, the seller isn’t losing anything.
While Fred von Lohmann of the EFF seems to be intrigued over the idea of an online used music store, it seems that the business model is also raising some sceptical opinions from others.
The article suggests that the owner of the website has a tough sell. Another interesting way to look at it might be that if the owner decides to run with the website, it’s practically begging to be sued by the RIAA. Still, the concept of re-selling MP3’s might be better left in the walled gardens of iTunes where DRM is used if it were to fly at all.
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