can you sell a MP3 library?

[Guest081417-1]

i've got about 60 gig of music on few flash drives... what would happen if i sold copies on craiglist?

[jzbass]

If you wrote the music yourself, go right ahead. Send me a copy, I'll pay for it.

If you purchased the music or 'otherwise acquired it', you are nearly certainly going to be violating copyright laws.

Further, why would anyone pay you for something that they can likely obtain for free? This is the new model, of course, and all but the biggest stars will make nearly nothing. If you want to help the death of the music industry along, no one will stop you.

To more directly answer your question, nothing would happen. No one would contact you. Who wants your music when they can create a YouTube/pandora channel suited to their own tastes? The worst that could happen is ASCAP or BMI would sting you and bust you. They would wonder why you made it so easy to catch a stupid fucking pirate. So you know, the violation is per song, and 60g's of mp3's is a lot of songs.

SMH

[instfixer]

Quoting from above:

""The worst that could happen is ASCAP or BMI would sting you and bust you. They would wonder why you made it so easy to catch a stupid fucking pirate. So you know, the violation is per song, and 60g's of mp3's is a lot of songs. ""

You would be made an example of a caught pirate.
The fine would be in the order of greater than $10,000
If you fell on your knees and begged forgiveness that they might say "send in a check for $5,000"

An intermittent flea market presence would do you well

[Guest081417-1]

I'm out... I was just curious.

[Guest081417-1]

maybe instead of selling copies, i can barter for BJs with it since neither are above board...

[tia travels]

So are you folks saying that we used to be able to sell vinyl records and CDs at garage sales and on places like eBay but now we can't sell the same thing on a flash drive like that?

Also, does that mean we can't sell books we have on an e-reader either?

This might be why I still like buying the hard copies of things...want to be able to sell them in the future.

[instfixer]

One can sell original recordings but not copies
Original CD ? no problem!
A copy of this original CD? big problem!

Of course an intermittent stall at a flea market would be the way to go

[Smoking Monkey]

What about a legally bought mp3? Many times, Amazon will include a digital copy when you buy a cd. Is this resellable? Or is Amazon breaking the law by doing this?

[tonicman5691]

The key to the question is what is known as the "first sale doctrine". A "Tangible Object" which contains copyrighted material may be freely disposed of *after* a first legal sale that has license fees coming from it.

You buy a CD from the store, first sale doctrine says you can sell that tangible item (or give it away), and that continues. That is why you can sell a book at a garage sale....

MP3 sales are NOT sales of tangible items. So..... a resale of a MP3 is at best "dodgy" under copyright law.

As for fines, the statutory fine is 75k per copy.... so if I copied my 1000 song library the fine they could seek (by statute) is not limited to "lost profits" and the like --- they could seel 75,000 x 1,000 (one big honking number......)

[tia travels]

I'll say it again, "This might be why I still like buying the hard copies of things...want to be able to sell them in the future."

[Guest081417-1]

so what if i sold my computer and left the library on it? or happen to sell flash drives and didn't know that is where itunes was setup to store music files?

and just to set the rocord straight, i'm no pirate. this music has been acquired gradually by me since i first had an ipod.

[frenchlouie1986]

If you have to ask if you can do it then you probably should not be doing it.

[tonicman5691]

Originally Posted by oldguitarboy

so what if i sold my computer and left the library on it? or happen to sell flash drives and didn't know that is where itunes was setup to store music files?

and just to set the rocord straight, i'm no pirate. this music has been acquired gradually by me since i first had an ipod.

That is the $120,000 dollar question my friend. When you read your agreement with the music provider, all they typically grant to you is a non-transferable license to the downloaded item. Kind of like what all downloaded software does...

They will certainly have a basis to claim that your transfer of that licensed material is illegal. And in one sense it does make sense, since the first sale doctrine only literally applies to sales of tangible items that already have copyrighted material embedded with them. (In a book, the tangible item (book) is sold with the copyrighted material embedded on the cover and pages with ink, In a CD the tangible item is sold with the copyrighted material already burnt into the CD).

The computer or flash drive is certainly a tangible item, but it wasnt sold to you with the copyrighted "stuff" already affixed to it.

If the computer or flash is the ONLY copy you have, you would have a much better time of it as you might be able to characterize it as I am getting rid of all of what I have. If there are other copies, you would be just as hosed as someone who throws stuff onto the Pirate's Bay (or I guess you can't do that after last week or so, god bless their imprint on history...)

[The Eternal Bachelor]

This New York district court said "No."

http://www.theverge.com/2013/4/1/417...capitol-redigi

"The decision applies only to the New York jurisdiction for now, but could serve as a model for other states, and it's highly unlikely they would rule any differently."

ReDigi, the defendent, is appealing the ruling based on the "first sale doctrine."

[Smoking Monkey]

Well, I guess that answers the question.