Tuesday, March 30, 2004
File Sharing in the News
This news item on The Register, says it all really - the record industry today launched a jihad on file shares.
Interestingly enough, this piece and this research (pdf) seem to sugest that file sharing may not have such a big impact on record sales.
It is as I have suspected for a while: we the people who use file sharing will be blammed for, and will pay the price for the ineptitude of the industry. But what happens when they've sued all of use for "theft" ? After all I break the law pretty much every day by ripping my CD's and transferring them to my minidisc player (we don't have fair use rules in the UK, so all copying is illegal, even if you have paid a licence fee to the copyright holder). As someone mentioned on slashdot earlier this week, no matter how the record industry spins it - it isn't theft, we have not stolen the work from the holder. What we may have done is not paid a licence fee.
What new excuse will they think up for falling record sales once they have shut down all of the file sharing networks? The real reason for falling sales (or as this article says - more acurately- falling prices - level sales) is they aren't giving us what we want. If I buy a single I want either
1/ A cheap 7 inch with a killer A side
2/ A CD single with a host of good quality B-Sides - not across format that costs nearly as much as the price of the album to buy al of the formats for all of the tracks only to find out that they are all shite.
If I buy an album I want at least 10 decent tracks, no padding, and I don't want to pay more than 10 quid for it. Give the people what they want and they will buy it.
To further muddy the waters, Canadian citizens already pay a licence fee on blank CD ROM discs to compensate copyright holders. In the UK and Europe there is a dearth of legal file sharing network's that allow users to use the music they pay for without it being crippled by DRM technology (which like copy protected CDs will stop me transferring my music to my minidisc player!)
Here's what I think should be done:
1/ stop chasing file shares through the courts
2/ introduce a subscription for all file sharing applications or place a levy on broadband internet connections - use this to compensate copyright holders on a pro-rata basis.
3/ don't cripple the music on the service with DRM. I just cannot and will not use it.
4/ record companies: learn to love file sharers - thry are your loyal customers.
OK, rant over... normal service resumed.