5 ms·

Bruce Willis to fight Apple over rights to music collection after his death

76 points by ableal 14y ago

tsotha 14y ago
Okay, I'm happy he's doing this, and I hope it doesn't mean he's having health problems. But I doubt his daughters are interested in his music.
- antidoh 14y ago
  One of the most connecting things my son and I share is music. Of the few things that I remember about my father, a large part is music. Even if you don't like the music, it still helps you understand. Sometimes it just helps you.
slantyyz 14y ago
Most young people won't get the reference, but before I clicked through to the OP, I was thinking this was referring to who would own the digital sales rights to "The Return of Bruno" after his death. Shamefully, I admit to buying this CD as a teenager, just because it was on sale for $10 (very cheap at the time for a CD).
- jfb 14y ago
  I had the exact same reaction. I couldn't imagine that it's flying off the (digital) shelves, so I had to click through and read. Next up, Scott Baio?
itg 14y ago
Really wish there were some other sources. All the tech blogs are also linking back to TheSun which I have a hard time taking seriously.
- auxbuss 14y ago
  The story was also reported yesterday, with more detail, in the Sunday Times (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/ http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/), which sits, ironically, behind a paywall. (I have the dead tree version here, which I guess I could photograph and upload.)
prohan 14y ago
This is stupid.
- lignuist 14y ago
  Why? I think it is great that Bruce Willis brings attention to the topic. My father gave me his record collection. He was able to do so, because he owned it. Will current/next generations be able to do the same?
Kelliot 14y ago
No sources, no comment from any company or organization. This is the kind of work you'd expect from the sun, trash paper.
ktizo 14y ago
A confused and zombified Bruce Willis was found in a Cupertino air conditioning duct late last night, in possession of a portable hard drive and a bad hangover.
alexholehouse 14y ago
Please don't ever post anything from The Sun. It's a worthless, sensationalist pit pandering in majority to festering idiots who live vicariously through a bizarre mix of celebrities and "real-life-tragedies". [Edit - This is, perhaps, an extreme view, and The Sun is in no way alone in using this modus operandi. However, as a Brit I feel an impulsive need to warn those who didn't grow up with The Sun!]
- norswap 14y ago
  I don't care, I'll judge on the article. This one does not seem to fit the characteristics you describe. I'll trust the community not to upvote drivel too much (they probably will, but it won't be your usual sun drivel).
  - michaelhoffman 14y ago
    Judging the article: it lists no sources and has no quotations from anyone regarding the headline claim. Doesn't seem that The Sun has presented any evidence whatsoever to back it up.
    - jlgreco 14y ago
      That is hardly "Sun" levels of bad journalism; you see similar from most mainstream publications these days.
      - michaelhoffman 14y ago
        I must disagree with this assessment. I have read dozens of news stories from "mainstream publications" in the past few days and not one of them had the singular lack of sourcing found in this article. Regardless of whether "everyone does it" (which, again, is not true), it's irrelevant to trying to have higher standards for links from Hacker News.
  - reitzensteinm 14y ago
    Do you judge each article from the Onion on its merits? Because the Sun is closer to the Onion than the New York Times. I agree with what you're saying in general, but if a paper makes stuff up for a living, there's absolutely nothing wrong with discounting what they say until a better source comes along.
ableal 14y ago
The reason this is interesting is that finally someone twigged to the contradiction between the word "buying" and not being able to dispose of the property acquired. This applies to iTunes, Amazon and the other app-stores around. No re-sale, no transmission of any kind beyond first buyer is contemplated. It's in fact a lifetime lease, with the "landlord" retaining some interesting rights, such as popping in and removing items. We discussed that here a couple of years ago when Amazon exercised that right to remove allegedly illegal copies of Nineteen Eighty Four it had sold. The current situation may be temporarily good for profits, but the value for digital items may well depend on their having a secondary market like physical goods have. The sales of new houses or cars would suffer greatly if they were not resalable.
nnethercote 14y ago
Aren't iTunes tracks all DRM-free now? Maybe Bruce has some old ones with DRM and hasn't paid to upgrade them to DRM-free.
- ScottWhigham 14y ago
  What does DRM have to do with this though? Presumably the point isn't whether or not he can move these to another machine with a hardware/software dongle getting in the way. I take it that the point is that the Apple license prohibits him from legally giving/bequeathing these songs to anyone of his choosing.
femto 14y ago
Postscript, so that HN has an accurate record: Bruce Willis Isn’t Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bruce-willis-itunes-music-library/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bruce-willis-itunes-music-l...

76 points by ableal 14y ago

Okay, I'm happy he's doing this, and I hope it doesn't mean he's having health problems. But I doubt his daughters are interested in his music.

antidoh 14y ago
One of the most connecting things my son and I share is music. Of the few things that I remember about my father, a large part is music. Even if you don't like the music, it still helps you understand. Sometimes it just helps you.

slantyyz 14y ago

Most young people won't get the reference, but before I clicked through to the OP, I was thinking this was referring to who would own the digital sales rights to "The Return of Bruno" after his death. Shamefully, I admit to buying this CD as a teenager, just because it was on sale for $10 (very cheap at the time for a CD).

jfb 14y ago
I had the exact same reaction. I couldn't imagine that it's flying off the (digital) shelves, so I had to click through and read. Next up, Scott Baio?

itg 14y ago

Really wish there were some other sources. All the tech blogs are also linking back to TheSun which I have a hard time taking seriously.

auxbuss 14y ago
The story was also reported yesterday, with more detail, in the Sunday Times (http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/ http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/), which sits, ironically, behind a paywall. (I have the dead tree version here, which I guess I could photograph and upload.)

prohan 14y ago

This is stupid.

lignuist 14y ago
Why? I think it is great that Bruce Willis brings attention to the topic. My father gave me his record collection. He was able to do so, because he owned it. Will current/next generations be able to do the same?

Kelliot 14y ago

No sources, no comment from any company or organization. This is the kind of work you'd expect from the sun, trash paper.

ktizo 14y ago

A confused and zombified Bruce Willis was found in a Cupertino air conditioning duct late last night, in possession of a portable hard drive and a bad hangover.

alexholehouse 14y ago

Please don't ever post anything from The Sun. It's a worthless, sensationalist pit pandering in majority to festering idiots who live vicariously through a bizarre mix of celebrities and "real-life-tragedies". [Edit - This is, perhaps, an extreme view, and The Sun is in no way alone in using this modus operandi. However, as a Brit I feel an impulsive need to warn those who didn't grow up with The Sun!]

norswap 14y ago
I don't care, I'll judge on the article. This one does not seem to fit the characteristics you describe. I'll trust the community not to upvote drivel too much (they probably will, but it won't be your usual sun drivel).
- michaelhoffman 14y ago
  Judging the article: it lists no sources and has no quotations from anyone regarding the headline claim. Doesn't seem that The Sun has presented any evidence whatsoever to back it up.
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    That is hardly "Sun" levels of bad journalism; you see similar from most mainstream publications these days.
    - michaelhoffman 14y ago
      I must disagree with this assessment. I have read dozens of news stories from "mainstream publications" in the past few days and not one of them had the singular lack of sourcing found in this article. Regardless of whether "everyone does it" (which, again, is not true), it's irrelevant to trying to have higher standards for links from Hacker News.
- reitzensteinm 14y ago
  Do you judge each article from the Onion on its merits? Because the Sun is closer to the Onion than the New York Times. I agree with what you're saying in general, but if a paper makes stuff up for a living, there's absolutely nothing wrong with discounting what they say until a better source comes along.

ableal 14y ago

The reason this is interesting is that finally someone twigged to the contradiction between the word "buying" and not being able to dispose of the property acquired. This applies to iTunes, Amazon and the other app-stores around. No re-sale, no transmission of any kind beyond first buyer is contemplated. It's in fact a lifetime lease, with the "landlord" retaining some interesting rights, such as popping in and removing items. We discussed that here a couple of years ago when Amazon exercised that right to remove allegedly illegal copies of Nineteen Eighty Four it had sold. The current situation may be temporarily good for profits, but the value for digital items may well depend on their having a secondary market like physical goods have. The sales of new houses or cars would suffer greatly if they were not resalable.

nnethercote 14y ago

Aren't iTunes tracks all DRM-free now? Maybe Bruce has some old ones with DRM and hasn't paid to upgrade them to DRM-free.

ScottWhigham 14y ago
What does DRM have to do with this though? Presumably the point isn't whether or not he can move these to another machine with a hardware/software dongle getting in the way. I take it that the point is that the Apple license prohibits him from legally giving/bequeathing these songs to anyone of his choosing.

femto 14y ago

Postscript, so that HN has an accurate record: Bruce Willis Isn’t Suing Apple Over iTunes Music Ownership Rights. http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bruce-willis-itunes-music-library/ http://techcrunch.com/2012/09/03/bruce-willis-itunes-music-l...