This blog is way overdue; sadly I have been a little busy. Better late than never eh?
Several weeks ago now we all heard about The Pirate Bay founders being found guilty of copyright infringement and sent to prison. For those who don’t know, The Pirate Bay is a website where users share torrent files; while the site does not encourage illegal file sharing it is certainly not prevented and is in fact where most of the traffic comes from. Who were the biggest pushers of the verdict? The music and film industries.
Upon reading comments and the commentaries on blogs and in the media I noticed a resounding message ‘they should not have gone to prison’ or ‘I will never pay for music again’. I find that pretty ironic – most of the people who use the website don’t pay anyway – that is it’s purpose. If you want to ‘try before you buy’ there are many free and legal services out there!
Yes, I know the music industries business model is outdated and becoming obsolete. Personally I also think that, considering the costs and profits, music is terribly overpriced and major labels are facing a slide into obsoleteness. Yes they need a new business model.
But, the bottom line is for now, that material is copyrighted. These labels own that music. Accessing it is not a right, it is a privilege. If we choose to access that music we do so on their terms – if they feel that buying a $30 CD is the way, that is what you do to access the music. If you think a t-shirt is too expensive you don’t just steal it, you don’t buy it. Same applies with music – if you disagree with the model buy elsewhere. I just get a little frustrated with these people who feel it is their god given right to listen to music which these companies create. If I create a product I expect to be compensated at what I think is fair. If people buy at that price, even while complaining, it is priced well. However, if it is not priced well, or the method of distribution is poor, people will simply not buy it and I will either re-evaluate my model or lose all of the profits. That would be my choice – it is not the consumers right to access my product. Same applies for music.
Should these guys have gone to goal? Yeah. They did break the law and steal a companies product. They got what they deserved. Like everybody else, if you don’t like it, switch to a competitor (there are plenty of nimble, smaller labels) and consume their products. Music is a business, not a right.
If you really want to make a statement begin supporting all of the bands trying these new methods of distribution. If labels see it working they are likely to try it. That might make an interesting blog post for next week – where else the music industry should go. But for now we are using their tools and their product, if you don’t want to play by their rules simply don’t use it.
