MusicNet launches in U.S. only
Three major U.S. record labels, Warner Music Group, BMG Entertainment and EMI Recorded Music, have launched their much-anticipated music service, MusicNet, in partnership with Real Entertainment. Canadian consumers will likely hear a great deal of griping about certain aspects of the service from U.S. news outlets, but won’t have a chance to assess the system for themselves. It’s currently available only to American customers. Brian Robertson, head of the Canadian Recording Industry Association, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that those labels’ Canadian counterparts don’t have a similar initiative in the works due to this country’s "dark ages" copyright laws. Robertson says the regulatory environment in the U.S. is deemed safe for music subscription services because of provisions in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which prohibit the circumvention or hacking of technological measures designed to protect against piracy. He notes that Canada has no similar laws.