Here is a list of facts based on new legislation in Florida in Utah. Try to guess the identity of the mystery object (the “widget”).
- Businesses buying widgets for resale must apply for a permit.
- These businesses must thumb-print sellers of widgets and copy sellers’ state-issued identity documents, such as a driver’s license.
- Businesses may only issue store credit (not cash) for the widgets.
- Businesses are required to hold the widgets for 30 days before reselling them.
- Such laws are becoming so restrictive that some businesses are exiting the widget business.
- These aren’t airy-fairy laws; they’re being enforced by local police.
So what do you think? Are the widgets guns? Cars? Jewelry?
Nah. They’re used music CDs, according to an article in Billboard last week. Naturally our friends in the music biz say this legislation is "aimed at curbing the sale of stolen goods," meaning bootleg discs. In the used music stores I frequent, bootleg CDs comprise what I’d estimate is less than 1/2 of 1% of total store merchandise. At Academy Records, I’ve noticed the same bootleg R.E.M. concert CD languishing in the bin for the past two months, the bitmapped color cover of a young Michael Stipe regarding me dolefully. The sort of enthusiast who buys dubbed crap doesn’t buy it from used music stores anyway; they buy it from shifty-eyed buskers near Times Square who spread their home-burned Shakira albums upon blankets, so as to bundle up quickly and flee should a cop walk by.
Why are CDs being singled out among other commonly resold merchandise? The implication is that it’s the clout of the music business and its pugnacious lawyers. Most states do have “pawn shop laws” that include at least some of the elements listed above, but they’re not typically enforced. And CDs appear to be getting hit worse than even DVDs and video games; Florida and Utah retailers that resell those items aren’t even required to have permits. All not to mention the hundreds of items that can be resold in a consignment shop or thrift store without any hassle whatsoever from The Man.
I can’t think of an industry more eager to presuppose its consumers are criminals than music publishers. Can’t they continue to brood and sue over online music issues and leave alone dead technology like CDs?