While E3 2011 was going on a little fruit company made a big announcement. Apple launched iCloud on Monday. This world changing story made little more than a squeek in the 24 hour news cycle, but this launch changes the world of Intellectual Properties (IP) more than anyone has let on. The current way IP holders get paid is through a the sale. You buy a CD and the $17.95 you pay, pays the retailer, the distributor, record company, artists, and copyright holders. The argument has always been that when you pirate music you steal money from these individuals. This is true, until iCloud!
Now with iCloud those who have lost revenue from pirated music will be able to recoup some of the losses. The genius part of Apple’s iCloud is that it removes the physical media. Rather than having to have a file, you rent a temporary license to play songs from your iTunes Library. The fee you pay is distributed amongst those artists you have listened to. These fees that paid the retailer, distributor, record company, artists and copyright holders can be recouped by you just listening to them. At $2 per month, the amounts paid to IP holders will still be next to nothing to you buying the physical media files, but better than nothing.