File sharing and Canadians
p2pnet.net News:- “Unprompted, almost 30 per cent of those surveyed – who reported purchasing less music in the past 12 months – said downloading, file sharing and burning were the main reasons that their purchases had declined.
That’s the intro to the latest disingenuous CRIA puff release on the evils of file-sharing.
As usual, it singles Kazaa out as the principal villain despite the fact that, thanks largely to the attentions of the music industry, Kazaa is no longer a p2p application of any consequence.
The Big Five record labels are Sony (Japan), Warner (US), EMI (UK), BMG (Germany) and UMG (France) and they own the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America) as well as all the other PR-cum-enforcement ‘trade’ organs.
“Almost half of music consumers who download said that all of the music they burned to CD came from file sharing sites like Kazaa” says the CRIA.
It neglects to point out that Sony makes some of the most widely used CD and DVD burners.
“CRIA reports that the Canadian music industry has experienced retail sales losses in excess of $465 million since 1999 – as well as industry layoffs of over 25 per cent throughout the past year.”
It doesn’t explain the logic by which it reaches the conclusion that a file downloaded equals a file not sold.
The music industry makes similar claims about layoffs and other terrible hardships. However, the studios are reporting record sales and music album sales are not only increasing, but “growth in recorded music is projected to continue over the next several years”.
Clearly, “Canadians are increasingly adept at downloading and burning music, instead of buying it from legitimate sources,” says CRIA boss Brian Robertson.
Why shouldn’t they be? Downloading is legal in Canada, Big Music notwithstanding.
Things might change if among other things the Big Five labels:
- Stop lying about the effect online music activities is having on sales
- Stop suing their customers
- Use p2p as their principal marketing and distribution system
- Stop trying to swindle buyers with grossly over-priced ‘product’
- Abandon their practice of churning out cookie-cutter ‘product’ by ‘artists’ built from the feet up by the music industry
It could also replace its teams of highly paid reality and truth realignment specialists with people who have at least a modicum of credibility.
July 9th, 2004 at 4:07 am
You forgot Brainwashing people with their Payola schemes and keepin Indies off the radio because of their Payola bribes!!!!!!!!!!!!
July 9th, 2004 at 3:28 pm
“they own the CRIA (Canadian Recording Industry Association of America)”…
Hate to nitpick, but CRIA is the Canadian Recording Industry Association. Not “of America”… – they have their own.
July 9th, 2004 at 3:36 pm
I cannot see what all the fuss is about with this so “file sharing”
For a good many years now people have been taping music from radios all over the planet
It seems that all of a sudden it is now wrong to do it ovet the ‘net.
What is the difference as long as you do not do it for personal gain, or make multiple copies to sell?
I am sure most of the folks who download music only want the have a personal copy for their music collection.
I wonder if anyone else feels the same way? I am a senior in my 70s. and have seen taping from the radio since
the fifties………………….Keith in Canada.
July 9th, 2004 at 3:50 pm
That’s supposed to be an sardonic joke ; )
July 9th, 2004 at 4:15 pm
Right on Man. The dya I shed a tear for the facist music industry is the day I die.
July 9th, 2004 at 4:16 pm
Of coarse we burn cd’s. Thats why they sell blank ones that have a tax on them that goes to the industry for doing so. What a complete waste of time spent on that survey. and yes I sometimes turn on the radio and listen to music for free aswell. I heard my daughter singing a song the other day, are they going to stop that aswell because she did not write the words or the music. The more they piss people off about this the more people will copy insted of buying origanals. To all you musicians. Get rid of these gangsters and run your own life and get all the money for doing so. FOOLS
July 9th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
Surely the Canadian governmemt will consider all the ramifications, truths, half -truths and false assumptions before legislating a change on the legality of downloading. Hopefully the public interest will be upheld when all the ramifications are considered–if not god help us; otherwise we are at the mercy of a greedy industry.
July 9th, 2004 at 4:48 pm
I dont think they realize that the wave of the future is going to be all digital music and it is going to be widely accessable over the net. what good is an iPod or other products like that if we dont have digital music. If they stopped thier bitching and just accepted it and changed the way they market they could make a lot of money from this… They essentially have a pipeline (the internet) from the studio to the consumer. What more could you ask for.
Put it this way. If the music industry just canned the actual production of cd’s and just sold the digital music online they would make a fortune. They no longer would have the overhead of actually making the cds and so it would be a cash cow. yes they would loose some money cause there is bound to be piraters because it is already in the digital format, but the pros deffinatly outway the cons.
Not to mention that if they did that and then bought stock in the portable digital player industry they would be even larger “fat cats” than they are now.
They are too caught up in the past to be able to progress in the future…
Swill Masta
(Software Developer)
July 10th, 2004 at 2:24 am
Downloading music is not techincally legal. The courts ruled that keeping digital copies on computers were NOT illegal. The person’s computer HD where the back up resides is not responsible if someone connects to their computer and takes a copy of that file. Please be more specific in your language usage in the future.
July 10th, 2004 at 2:30 am
One solution to the cribs of the recording industry is to deflate the price tags on CDs and make it attractive enough .