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Wednesday, July 19, 2006

SHOULD MUSIC BE FREE?

Thought I'd put this article up, given the last article was all about digital downloads.  It's an abbreviated version, so if you want to read the whole thing click here.


The big question...Should Down loadable Music be Free?

A recordable CD held in front of a computer

Should Music Downloads Be Free?  By Mark Savage Entertainment reporter, BBC News

A group representing the U K's independent music labels says it wants to change the way we pay for music online.

They say music could, in effect, be free to customers - with payment collected as part of their Internet subscription.

The system would work like a pay TV channel, where all of the programmes and movies are free once a monthly fee has been paid.

It involved other music industry bodies, such as the musician's Union and the Performing Rights Society (PRS), which collects royalties for songwriters and performers.

They say that, in the future, the industry would make money from file-sharing music by charging Internet Service Providers(ISPs) for distribution.

However, customers would still have to pay for a permanent copy of a piece of music on CD, or as a download bought from digital retailers.

Lessons learned

Rock group Blur
Blur's last album, Think Tank, was leaked on the Internet
At a press conference outlining their ideas, the panel of music industry experts also said that record companies were wrong to sue people who illegally download music.

"Prohibition always ends in disaster," said Dave Rowntree, drummer for the rock band Blur. "As an industry we've learnt our lessons."

Wenham says she envisions a two-tier system for music fans.

Customers would have access to any music track they wanted, delivered in real-time over the internet, as part of their broadband connection.

However, they would have to make separate payments for "premium content", such as exclusive performances, or to keep permanent copies of songs offline.

Law change

However, the music industry collective says copyright laws will need to change in order for this to happen.

Most importantly, they want Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to pay for music distributed over their services.

However, the music industry group has yet to convince ISPs that the system has merit.

Illegal downloads

The assertion that internet providers should be heldresponsible for illegal downloading by their users will not help to build bridges.

The music industry group says it wants to make intermediaries - including ISPs - "the target of copyright enforcement action".

The Internet Service Providers Association (Ispa) issued a robust response to the suggestion.

"ISPs bear no liability for illegal file sharing as the content is not hosted on their servers," it said.

Such disagreements are currently being thrashed out aspart of an independent review of the U K's copyright laws commissioned by the government.


[Resource http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5174292.stm]

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