Music piracy is now so prevalent that I just heard from a reader who's writing his MBA thesis about it. Most of the questions readers send me have quick technical answers, but the questions from this student were more open-ended, so (with his permission), I thought I'd open the discussion to everyone. I've illustrated the questionnaire with stills from the recent propaganda video Campus Downloading, which PC Magazine's Jim Louderback and others described as a modern version of Reefer Madness. I've included a troubling excerpt of the video at the end.
On with the questions....
Dennis Chhetri writes,
I'm a student of the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, undergoing my MBA dissertation. My dissertation is titled How Strategies Can Be Evolved To Stop Music Piracy in the Music Industry.
I've come across several of your articles based on music piracy. I was surprised at the amount of important information I have come across this year and all this information has been invaluable to me and to my dissertation.
I would be very obliged if you would answer a few questions based on music piracy and the music industry.
Here is an edited list of his questions, to which I've added my own comments in italics. Please leave your thoughts below.
1) With the IFPI reporting that the music industry lost about $4.5 billion in revenue last year, do you think the IFPI and other anti-piracy campaigns are doing enough to stop the blatant use of file swapping (P2P) across the Internet? [Honestly, this is the first time I've heard of this organization, so I'd say no. But rather than antipiracy campaigns, which are by nature negative, I'd like to see some pro-music campaigns.]
2) What would be the best strategy to stop music piracy in any region through the world? Do you think music piracy on the whole can come to an abrupt end in the near future? [This, of course, is a huge question, and the reason why I wanted to post this list for more people to see. Obviously there will be no abrupt end to piracy. I'd rather shift the emphasis to developing better ways to compensate musicians and those who represent them. It will be a long process, but I think it starts by giving every child music lessons so they can begin to appreciate the value of making music.]
3) In my survey, all my respondents are completely aware of the consequences of downloading illegally yet they are still prepared to carry on with it. They have all used pirated music products as well. Do you think the end users are at fault or the modern technologies (broadband, low cost of producing counterfeit CDs, etc.) that have helped music piracy be popular throughout the world? [It's a combination, of course, aided by industry changes like the growing emphasis on hitmaking, which produces boring new clones of previous successful formulas. The emphasis on selling music as a tangible product has also backfired as the cost of materials has dropped, taking the perceived value with it.]
4) Copyright laws have been very difficult to implement in the developing countries, and that's where the music piracy problem is at a high level. Do you think these host nations are doing enough to stop it too? [Probably not, but I'd be interested to learn if the bulk of the lost sales are for hyped foreign acts.]
5) It is true that Napster has come as a blessing in disguise to the lesser known artists. They also failed to recognise how explosive MP3s would be, spreading world wide. Do you think that the music industry could have avoided or stopped these P2P services and where do you think they went wrong? [Well, the industry certainly could have been more innovative and flexible sooner, but the whole distribution and creation landscape has changed, so I think it's better to look to the future.]
6) Do you think that pay-download services came too late in the music industry or simply that they were ignorant in the beginning when MP3s, file sharing, etc. came to the forefront? [That's still settling out, I think. Personally, I don't see the value in paying to download music in the present degraded, restricted formats. There's enough on Pandora and other Internet radio stations to keep me busy, and when I hear something I really like, I buy a CD.]
7) Where do you think the music industry will stand in five or six years with regard to music piracy? Will they still able to generate the profits they did a decade ago? Will they take a firmer stance against music piracy or wilt under pressure? Or are there modern technologies to combat it or make it much worse? [I think they'll shift to licensing instead of physical sales. They may also reshape themselves as promotional agencies, because artists still need exposure, and would probably pay a portion of their potential income to get it. Fighting piracy directly seems doomed. Like other so-called wars on concepts, that's attacking the symptom rather than the cause.]
Reefer Madness II: The Phantom Menace
Back to the negative tactics of the recording industry: One person on an audio mailing list responded to the comparison of the Campus Downoading video to Reefer Madness by noting, "Reefer was made illegal by suggesting it was causing our innocent white women to have sex with evil black jazz musicians." That's reflected in the notorious quote attributed to primordial Drug Czar Henry Anslinger. Whether Anslinger actually said that, notice the part in the Campus video where the announcer warns that if you download music at college, you never know who will be sharing your connection. And then the camera lingers on a black guy:
Arrrrgh! The more I see negative campaigning like this, the more I think that the solution to piracy has to take a positive approach. I just had a great CD-buying experience, so I imagine many other music fans would welcome positive sales techniques as well.
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Comments (13)
Read More Entries by David Battino.
I am willing to bet my life that any person who downloads music illegally went to work and when payday came they were told the reason they were not getting paid or not paid as much as they thought; was because their salary was shared with anyone who wanted it. Then you will see those same downloading violators change their so called tunes very fast. I have never met a person who has to bust their tail for a week or 2 let alone for the rest of their life say "Oh I don't want to get paid you take it" or better yet "Share it with everybody that wants it". If you do please let me know so I can notify all the TV stations and Radio stations that I've finally found my freedom on Blueberry Hill!
I’m not a musician, and I’m not a writer, but I do believe Artist should receive monetary compensation for their writing skills. There will come a day when this whole Music Piracy situation is going to get real ugly(much worst)then now. We haven't seen the end this is just the beginning.
@Simon:
is there any chance i could use the questionnaire myself?
The "questionnaire" is simply the seven questions I listed above. Dennis Chhetri (the questioner) gave me permission to reprint them here. I'll check with him (if his e-mail address still works) and see if he's okay with your quoting him as well. I don't see why that would be a problem, but it's good to ask.
Update, 2007-12-31: Dennis replied, "He can feel free to use my questions...as long as he quotes me! Thanx for asking. PS -- My dissertation came out real well thanx to you guys!"
This is an interesting read, i am currently studying a similar topic, is there any chance i could use the questionnaire myself?
Many Thanks
i agree , I think we should find other ways to incorporate music into our lives
but why should recording be excluded from the revenue stream.
What a beautiful world it was . I make something that someone likes
and that someone buys it and and can make more things that some one likes
It really doesn't get any simpler than that does it.
isnt that the principle of our free market semi controlled economy.
Oh i'm sorry that only applies to technologists and industrialists who can defend there
copyrights and patents.
The copyright laws must be rewritten or i am afraid you might as well kiss all digitizable IP good by.
@Blue Collar: Thanks for your heartfelt comments. I wonder, though: musicians have existed for thousands of years, but it's only in the last 70 or so that we've made money from recordings. So we may just be moving into a new phase where we'll have to find other ways to make money from music.
To your other point, do you really see hatred against artists? It doesn't make sense to me that a fan would say, "I love this band so I'll screw them." I have heard a prominent blogger say — in front of a group of people — that she steals music because "the artists have made enough money and the record companies don't pay them anyway," but she wasn't talking about indie artists. Her comment struck me as ignorant and greedy, but not hateful.
i have only made a living as a musician since i was out of high school.
I make enough to pay the rent , by a car every 10 or 12 years and buy a new instrument every few years.
I will say with out reservation, I have never seen more hatred toward
artists and creatives, than in the last 3 of 4 years.
I am not talking about stars and corporations.
I am talking about average working stiffs - engineers producers big and small
studios , pro gear manufacturers , big and small publishers Techs sales people.
And indy musicians and labels.
I am saying it is worse than this report
I am talking from from my experience only granted , but i am a mid line and indy musician and have worked on 200+ records in my 30 years.
yes labels have screwed artists for years so what kind of think is it --
"i luv this band ill screw them too"
come on
we can get cell phone and tech gear that does something new and amazing
every day and I hear " oh my good , we cant stop piracy" what a crock.
This i the result of the manufactures spending no money till they are forced to.
I AM TELLING YOU THAT ILLEGAL DOWNLOADING IS KILLING US!!!
music industry has been stealing licensing royalties from musicians for decades to line the seats of plush limo's and furnish cocktails to the latest greatest....research the "Jewel" in the A/R men's caps that stole lyrics/hooks from that Georgia artist in the '90s - Discmakers never paid him a dime for the chorus he wrote....
I've been searching facts about digital piracy and I ran here on your site. It's good to know that there are people who do care of the on-going battle between the industry and the piracy. keep it up!
Solving piracy is easy. Use anything but sea transportation.
(Reducing copyright infringement is more difficult, but might be a better goal for copyright holders.)
Steve: Well said. Your comment the number 1 rule of legal procedure — "Don't sue poor people" reminded me of another good insight: You’ll never solve a social problem with a technological trick. Dissenters point out that vaccine technology did indeed solve the social problem of certain diseases, but as Cory Doctorow counters in his famous DRM talk, “Here’s the social reason that DRM fails: keeping an honest user honest is like keeping a tall user tall.”
@Steve,
All very well said! The only part I might take issue with is,
>> on 5 different devices (ok, only Apple devices, but fine...).
Personally, this is the reason I won't buy music form iTunes. But who we will purchase from and who we won't needs to be left up to the market to decide, (which I believe is your point ;) of which I most wholeheartedly agree with.
Excellent piece, David! I couldn't agree more with your conclusions...
Thanks!
1. Estimated losses due to piracy frequently assume a download displaces a purchase - not an accurate statement.
2. 'Piracy' is illegal and unethical - that said, the industrys' reliance on IP law as currently written has contributed greatly to the problem. IP laws, in the US, need updating.
3. Record companies traditionally engage in absolutely absurd, unethical accounting practices (I am a CPA and I've read the standards) - as do film companies - and the artists generally get the bad end of the deal. For them to complain that they are losing their insane markups is hardly a sympathetic argument.
A good solution provides a pricing and use scheme that benefits all players. In my opinion, Apple has the best so far - I can download a song for $0.99 or TV show, commercal free for $1.99. I can watch it all I want. I can burn music CDs without limit and play the music on 5 different devices (ok, only Apple devices, but fine...).
The industry needs to realize that if I buy something, it is MINE, to do with as I wish. You may watermark what I buy so if you find the file on eDonkey you can fine me, but don't demonize the entire user community because we won't accept what is being shoved down our throats. YOUR business plan is not OUR problem. If the market were truly allowed to work, we could fix this. It is not - 'the market' is a controlled, reglated monopoly. Until it is not, 'we' will innovate around whatever DRM or other controls the industry comes up with, and they'll be stuck violating the number 1 rule of legal procedure - "Don't sue poor people."