ReDigi Copyright Debate

A new company offering music lovers a way to buy and sell “pre-owned” music files has already drawn criticism from the Recording Industry Association of America and others as to the legalities of the service.

The Massachusetts-based ReDigi says it’s a legal second-hand marketplace for customers to get sell unwanted music files taking up hard drive space and buy others at a discount, according to the New York Times.

The RIAA issued Nov. 10 a cease-and-desist notice to ReDigi, claiming the service is committing copyright infringement by making copies of files.

Company chief exec John Ossenmacher disagrees, saying ReDigi technology is able to transfer files between users without copying via “atomic transaction.” He also said the program has safeguards to stop anyone trying to profit from pirated music.

“ReDigi is a marketplace that gives users tools to be in compliance with copyright law,” he told the Times. “Before I put a file up for sale ReDigi says you will need to delete them, and if not it won’t take them.”

The program reportedly deletes any copies of a song still on a customer’s computer and synced devices and can detect if a song has already been uploaded, according to the website.

Each time a customer uploads and lists a song for sale, ReDigi analyzes the track to make sure it was purchased from official stores like Amazon or iTunes. The customer then earns an instant rebate coupon for 20 cents per listing. Each song is listed at 79 cents and the earnings go into the customer’s account, which can be used to buy other tracks. Any tracks purchased from ReDigi are stored on the cloud and can be sold back at any time.

ReDigi says its service is legal and observes copyright law under the “First Sale Doctrine” that applies to physical goods. In this case of “digital personal property,” the copyright holder is paid royalties during a first sale of an item but has no claim when said item is resold.

The website also says that artists and labels get a percentage of every sale but doesn’t specify how much aside from “often netting more than they get from a new music site and a lot more than they get from streaming music.”