January 25, 2008
SeeqPod faces streaming tears
SeeqPod, the music search engine that we wrote about in September, has finally incurred the wrath of the record companies.
The Bay Area start-up is considering its legal position after Warner Music Group filed a suit in a Los Angeles court alleging copyright infringement.
SeeqPod users type in the name of a song or artist and the search engine compiles a list of instances that can be played with the click of a mouse.
SeeqPod told us at the time that they did not host any of the music and therefore felt they were acting legally, which seemed a little hopeful and perhaps naive.
Warner’s complaint, a copy of which has been posted on the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s site, says that SeeqPod links to sites with illegal copies of copyrighted music and makes this “practically unlimited catalogue of unauthorised sound recordings available for on-demand streaming.”
“SeeqPod directly supplants legitimate contractual arrangements that exist for the authorised digital audio transmission and distribution of copyrighted music.”
While SeeqPod does not allow actual downloads of the music it finds, the major record companies are clearly inclined to clamp down on streaming services that do not have their approval.
In contrast, Warner, EMI, Sony BMG and Universal made a deal with CBS’s Last.FM on Wednesday that permits free streaming of their music.
The four majors earlier gave their backing to streaming from imeem, a social networking site. But that was only after Warner launched litigation last May against imeem similar to that it is now bringing against Seeqpod.
The message to the search-engine start-up therefore seems to be: Sign up or sign off.
