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  • From: "Don Rua" <drua AT fullseven.com>
  • To: <internetworkers AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: internetworkers digest: November 15, 2001
  • Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 17:56:11 -0500



>>I thought that Microsoft was a very rich company, with lots of cash in the
bank.

What does having alot of cash in the bank have to do with cutting deals which
favor others? The cash in the bank, and the best deal they can cut, are
issues that belong to the stockholders. If the stockholders want to help out
musicians, they are free to give as much as they want to their musician of
choice, but a business has a fiduciary duty to perform the function they are
built for, making money. A public company serves its stockholders (little
folks like my mom, capiche?) and to cut 'nice' deals with others is only
prudent if there is a compelling business reason to do so.

>>Why are they bending the rules to their own sole benefit? I mean, musicians
have the right to mae money out of their work, isn't it?

Hmmm..imagine that, a company acting for it's own sole benefit! Comments
about MS never cease to give me a chuckle. First, who's benefit are they
supposed to work for, and who has been appointed to determine that? Was there
something in the constitution that says "A business must be started to
benefit the common good above all others?" Perhaps something in Marx' work
perhaps. And it's not Billy Gates decision to work for a specific objective,
it's all their directors and stockholders decision who approve and vote and
invest in those decisions. Again, all of us. Last time I checked, MS stock
was available to all regardless of race, religion, etc.

As for musicians 'having a right to make money', I must assume that's a joke
comment based on some earlier thread. Money is not made based on effort, or
what is nice, it's made based on serving a market. I don't remember anyone at
MS telling a musician he is not allowed to make money from his work. Now, if
a musician 'wants' a deal with MS, the market will determine the price. If
there are musicians who will give their stuff to Xbox games for free, and MS
pays them a dime, MS is being poor stewards of the public company. It is not
their job to be any kinder that is legally necessary, it is their job to
increase shareholder value. That's not a mantra, it's an ethical obligation
to those whose lifestyle it supports, and at this time that is a large number.

Frankly, I believe the musicians make out like bandits if they get their work
on an Xbox game. Someone stated a price of 20-30K? That might buy one
half-page ad in a music mag. But getting a song on a hot game gets pounded
into folkses heads. I can play a FinalFantasy game 24 hours straight, or
TonyHawksProSkater till my thumbs ache, and I'll fall asleep with tunes from
previously unknown bands playing through my head unmercifully. You can't buy
that for 20K or 100K. Licensing? How about a perpetual free marketing
opportunity for which the musicians should pay dearly for. Compute the ROI on
that and see who's taking advantage of whom. You think a damn sole buys a
video game to listen to some band scream "It's in our nature to kill each
other....". There are CD's for that.


Nobody 'deserves' to get paid. You either sell your stuff to someone who will
pay, or you don't. If I was XYZ band, I'd be first in line to get my goods on
a hot video game any way possible, and laugh at those who are too
shortsighted to let go of a penny to make a dollar.

>>Or is it Microsoft the only one allowed to make money?

Again, a chuckle. To convert a phrase of Yoda: "There is no 'allow'. There is
only do, or do not."

Don. Personal opinion only.



--
>>Josep L. Guallar-Esteve



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  • RE: internetworkers digest: November 15, 2001, Don Rua, 11/20/2001

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