EMI drags two file sharing websites to court
MUMBAI: Two music sharing websites have been temporarily blocked BlueBeat.com and Basebeat.com for selling The Beatles song for 25 cents a piece. EMI has dragged the website claiming that they also involved in piracy and infringed on copyrights of artists' like The Beach Boys, Coldplay and Lily Allen.
According to news reports, the two webites released digital remasters of Beatles catalog for 25 cents per song. The retail price of a 13 album Beatle box set goes up to $250. The attorney of the two websites in question has opposed EMI's injunction request saying "the sites are selling an altered version of the songs."
Surprisingly, Beatles songs have never been legally offered for online sales - be it iTunes or any other music sharing service. News reports suggest that EMI may seek a fine of up to $150,000 per song that was downloaded.