Ubuntu Compromises on Banshee Revenue Recipients

Canonical and Ubuntu encountered quite a bit of resistance from its community recently when it changed the default Banshee profit sharing recipient. By default, in Banshee The GNOME Foundation was to receive a portion of revenue from music sales through the AmazonMP3 store. But in a recent Ubuntu 11.04 snapshot, users noticed that recipient was changed to Canonical. After a bit of an uprising from users and Banshee developers, Jono Bacon today announced a compromise.

 Ubuntu's original answer was to disable Amazon.com or leave Amazon.com enabled but changing the affiliate code to take a 75% cut. But again, that didn't go over too well with vocal users and Banshee developers. To Canonical's credit, they do seem to listen to their users sometimes and apparently this time they did.

 The compromise agreed to by Canonical and Banshee now involves a user choice and revenue sharing of the modest proceeds. Bacon posted details of the new agreement plan today. They hope this will please most everyone.

 Details include the choice in music sources of both Amazon.com and Ubuntu One. The user simply decides which to use. Amazon.com usually has a wider selection and better pricing, but many may wish to support Canonical for their favorite distribution.

 Another aspect involves the revenue sharing. The plan now is that "25% of the revenue from the AmazonMP3 store to the GNOME Foundation and 25% of revenue from the Ubuntu One Music Store on both Banshee and Rhythmbox, to the GNOME Foundation." Cristian Parrino said, "We believe this plan fairly addresses the interests of all parties."