The IRS requires the appraiser to determine the fair market value of what is being appraised.  An appraiser has to find the price at which these or similar items are sold.  The appraiser would have to investigate what rights may travel with them, if such rights are presently included, and what value any such rights may contribute to their fair market value.    

Steve Smolian



-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List <[log in to unmask]> On Behalf Of Steve Greene
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2019 6:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Appraisal of digital music files

My donor described them as popular and cutting-edge Russian and (nearby
regions) artists. I hate to generalize, but I'd assume many, if not most are pirated and traded in informally via peer-to-peer. Traded digitally, that implies they aren't much older than 25 years (assuming some may have been ripped from vinyl). I assume my potential donor has them on a hard drive, but most may have come from peer-to-peer "back in the day". It may hinge on whether the MP3 binaries include a EULA license wrapped up in the code.

Also, it occurs to me that the "first sale" question has never really been settled. There was one Federal Court decision that said "no", re-sale is illegal, probably based on the EULA.

Steve

Steve Greene
(301) 842-8923
historicity.co
An independent archival professional specializing in still photography, moving images and recorded sound.


On Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 6:00 PM Hugh Paterson III <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Are they their own creation? Or are they tied to a Hard-drive? Are 
> they giving a copy, or are they deeding the rights to the music?
>
> On Mon, Jun 24, 2019 at 2:31 PM Steve Greene <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > Does anyone know if the IRS has settled on rules for the appraisal 
> > valuation of collections of digital music files (not tied to an 
> > artifact like a tape or CD)? A quick search reveals very little 
> > information
> on-line
> > about this case. A potential client has reached out, and I had very
> little
> > to go on based on my searches. I'd hate to mislead anyone about the 
> > acceptability of a potential donation for a tax deduction.
> >
> > TIA,
> >
> > Steve
> >
> >
> >
> > Steve Greene
> > (301) 842-8923
> > historicity.co
> > An independent archival professional specializing in still 
> > photography, moving images and recorded sound.
> >
>