MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA (Hypebot) – When startup Redigi announced last week that they'd open a marketplace to re-sell "used" mp3's this summer, many in the music industry questioned the legality of the company's plans.
"I can't imagine how," wrote Boston based music attorney Rob Falk. "A legal music download is generally issued as 'personal license to use,' and I believe that by its terms, is non-transferable."
But in response to our inquiry, a ReDigi spokesperson replied:
To answer your question about the legality, the distinction is that ReDigi is the marketplace that makes it possible for buyers and sellers to interact with each other directly. Sellers exercise their legal rights under US copyright law and first sale doctrine in the legal transfer of music. This has never been done, because their hasn’t been the technology to do this and to do it legally.
As far as the labels go, every label and every artist will receive proceeds from every single sale. In the past this is something that has never been done before in used music. No matter how big or how small, ReDigi pays all of them. This is a new source of revenue for them that has never previously been available.
We are going to release additional information on the technology behind ReDigi very soon that I think will answer the rest of your questions.
