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Topic History of: In response to Paul McGuinness as a music FAN
Max. showing the last 5 posts - (Last post first)
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zooloo |
On a slight tangent... Yahoo are leaving their music subscription service
"The company's management said last fall it had begun to de-emphasize its subscription model in favor of an advertising-supported music service."
This suggest something I hadn't considered - ISP want to make money from music downloads. The illegal downloads are actually not in their own interests.
The ISP missing out on a revenue stream is more of an incentive than compelling them to pass a fraction of their income to a third party to cover royalties for no direct return. |
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JK2006 |
Michael, Zoo, KZ - first, thank God we still have at least four people in our industry (including Paul McG) prepared to discuss this issue.
I think it is quite similar to the old TAX BLANK TAPES discussion from way back when.
And I think it gets to the heart of the problem - should music be free for all?
I suspect the answer should be - it's up to you.
As an artiste and copyright owner myself, I've made loadsamoney from music in the past - never intended, always as a by product of my motive - having a great time and getting music to as wide an audience as possible.
Times have changed but my motives have not, so as far as I'm concerned that remains my primary reason for staying involved - get it to as many ears as possible.
Now if those involved want cash as well as satisfaction, that's fine by me and I'll do all I can to capitalise on areas where we can make money BUT - I have certain rules...
NEVER rely on anyone else (let alone "society") to protect my interests or make me money (by fining or taxing organisations, putting codes on music, collecting dues etc)... they will ALWAYS let you down, so simply expect results from what you do yourself.
TOTALLY devote yourself to making sure the music is as good as it can be and gets heard by as many as possible. Any effort elsewhere is wasted and tends to mean your music doesn't deserve attention.
I can play with sites, boards, TV shows, concepts, conventions, downloads, manufacturing and other ancillary games because I'm OLD, semi retired, no longer devoted to simply making music. But if I'd been the butterfly I am today 40 years ago, I'd never have had any hits to talk about now. |
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Michael |
You're right. Let's give up.
No actually, I think you're missing a bigger picture as gradually destroying the entertainment industries is not in the IPS's best interests either. They'd have less and less to use as a selling point to punters apart from promoting the loony attention-freaks on YouTube or abysmal DIY electronic acts. There's only so much of that you can take. And as the ISPs want to take on the TV industry for advertising revenue, they might give a sympathetic ear to what the entertainment industries have to say as they in theory have some idea how to entertain.
Unless, that is, we decide that they can go laughing to the banks while the record industry takes a perverse joy in the demise of EMI - which seems to be the dominant trend over the past few weeks. Let's kick the guy that's down rather than the one that hit him with the car. Is that where we are?
OK, I'll admit I'm pushing it a bit, but I'm surprised at the reaction McG's comments received. Why are we protecting ISPs as if they were the Virgin Mary's chastity? What have they done for us? They genuinely have built a large part of their business on the back of the entertainment industries. Why is this so hard to comprehend? I also believe they are not alone and was delighted to see YouTube and Last.fm embrace the idea of royalties.
If you don't ask, thou most certainly will not receive. |
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zooloo |
There in no levy on blank CDs in the UK. This doesn't surprise me as it would be unjust for those not copying music.
The objection to a royalty tax is the objection to being penalised for a crime one didn't commit.
The ISP cannot "turn off" bit torrent sharing.
The ISP are not acting illegally, they are not doing anything illegal. They are an easy target, they are not the culprits.
Going for those who are breaking the law may be awkward but that cannot justify going for who ever is convenient. |
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Michael |
...the few that are downloading... I'm glad to hear that. Here was me thinking the industry was crumbling due to the vast numbers of people using Limewire etc. I must be wrong! As well as that nice chap from the technology company that showed me how many users were sharing tracks of mine in real time.
I remember covering the issue of levies on blank CDs when I still had a cassette player. All the research showed that over 80% of the CDs were being used to copy music specifically. What's more, the same research showed that people didn't think a levy was unfair, despite complaints from an association for the blind. I think maybe that it's time to do some more research to quantify what we're talking about.
I'm not sure why there is so much resistance to the idea of a levy. It's unfair? How fair is P2P? One might cost a few pennies a month, the other is causing irreparable damage to the entertainment industries upon even which the ISPs are building their business. Go check the homepages of the ISPs. Entertainment features prominently everywhere. They need us. And for the moment, they need us more than we need them as the Internet is currently more of a financial drain on music than anything else. Besides, TV still gives better exposure - and it pays authors rights. If you think the UK film industry is in bad shape now, wait until sharing kicks in for movie downloads as well.
The ISPs could turn off the sharing networks today if they wanted to. Yet they continue to give them access to the Internet, and provide punters with access to them (even promoting the idea of downloading in their advertising). As I said, we can easily determine how much of that traffic is legal or not. I'd say, let's try it. Let's talk to the ISPs. Maybe they would be willing to play ball and we can build strategic partnerships. They certainly won't if we don't ask the question. |
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