GigaOm Launches Blogcott Against Universal

November 13th, 2006 Davis Posted in Music, Movies, Media |

There has been a pretty negative reaction to Microsoft’s announcement that they will start paying a $1 sin tax to Universal Music Group on all Zune sales, but super blogger Om Malik has taken the rhetoric one step further and has declared a one week blogcott on all UMG purchases. His boycott stems from seeing yet another comment by Universal where they accuse their customers of being theives.

I’m all for supporting GigaOm on this one. Universal’s tax on the Zune is going to be passed directly onto consumers and as someone who doesn’t steal music, it’s hardly fair for me to pay this tax just because Microsoft wants to offer the ability to play mp3s that I’ve legitimately ripped from my own collection. I’ve paid for my music once already and if Universal wants me to pay for my music a second time, then they can kick rocks for all I care.

Universal can spin this anyway they want, but Microsoft did the tech community a major disservice by agreeing to pay this tax and Universal’s continued rhetoric on the issue show just how wide the rift between the media and their customers really is.

If Universal wants to call me a thief that’s their right, but for the next week I’m going to support Om by showing Universal what it’s like when the “theives” stop buying their music and I would encourage my readers to join in on this boycott as well.

I’m also going to take this one step further by not only boycotting any music purchases, but I will also refuse to watch any of their films or TV shows during this period.

This may mean that I’ll have to go without seeing Heroes or checking out the new movie, Let’s Go To Prison, but I’d rather miss out on this entertainment, then to be the biggest loser and support a company that would rather call their customers theives then try to adapt to the new digital landscape.

The internet has changed the music and film industry forever. The studios may not be ready to change, but instead of dragging their feet on the digital revolution, they should be working with technology to enhance the experience for everyone involved. Consumers have more options now and if they won’t fill those options we’ll find someone who will. Universal Music Group may own a third of the music out there, but I’d much rather support an independent label where the artist makes more selling a $10 CD then to spend my hard earned money on a corporate machine that sucks the soul out of musicians and then accuses their customers of being the ones that are stealing.