Saturday, December 17, 2005

MUSIC INDUSTRY COMPANY APOLOGISES FOR HEAVY-HANDEDNESS

We always rush to slap the big music companies around when they do something stupid, so it's only fair we should offer praise when they realise they've stepped over the line and say sorry. We decided on this policy quite a while ago, and now, we're putting it into action as we say well done to Warner Chappell Music for admitting they got it wrong.

WCM had sent a threatening email to the chap who invented the iTunes Pear Lyrices plug-in; they thought it was some sort of filesharing lyrics thingy, and sent a heavy-handed email. Now, they're saying sorry:

"The goal of Warner/Chappell's prior letter to pearworks was to gain assurance that pearLyrics operated according to (copyright) principles. However, in both tone and substance, that letter was an inappropriate manner in which to convey that inquiry. Warner/Chappell apologizes to Walter Ritter and pearworks."

Of course, in the current shoot off a lawyer's letter, ask questions if there's anything left atmosphere, this sort of thing - clunking misunderstandings, mulit-million pound companies leaning heavily on people who aren't doing anything wrong - happens a lot; it's just the apology that's rare. It's great that Warner Chappell have admitted they interfered with someone's program for no reason and - in copying emails to third parties such as Apple - libelled him; but it might be better if they had done their investigations before they went in mob-handed.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

It's easy to apologize. They got Apple to stop linking to the developer, they got the developer to stop distributing the program, and they now have him so scared that he is reluctant to produce anything else. What does an apology cost them at this point?

Anonymous said...

If someone ruined WMC's reputation and work on a global scale, WMC would of course be perfectly satisfied with a half-arsed apology.

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