All stick and no carrot

26-08-2009

by Ralph Averbuch

All coercion and no persuasion will prove disastrous for the music and movie industry.

Recent news that the UK government intends to toughen up the law on illegal downloads follows hot on the heels of plans already passed in France to introduce a three strikes rule where persistent downloaders of copyright material will effectively have their broadband connection removed. It follows a global and apparently very organised programme of lobbying by the music and movie industries of key government people around the world. If widely adopted, it will be a case of mostly stick and not a lot of carrot. Meanwhile the media report that new music service Spotify is on target to bring serious revenues to the record labels would suggest that, if pitched correctly with the right model, people do appear willing to pay. This suggests that rather than spending a lot of time and cash chasing after huge numbers of small-time downloaders, music companies should focus efforts on developing their business offerings so they meet the needs of 21st century consumers. We only need look at the recent US case where a federal court fined a 32 year old Minnesota woman USD1.9 million for downloading 24 songs illegally to recognise that not only is this ridiculously disproportionate, it also makes the law look an ass. Introducing prohibitive and punitive legislation to penalise people will likely never work as widely available internet tools will make tracing culprits and proving a case very expensive. There's an element of irony in finding that our every online moment is increasingly being policed to prevent possible file-sharing of songs and movies and it's up to the individual to prove their innocence in the face of assumed guilt.

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