The Pirate Bay vs Them: Day Eight
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- In 2005 ex-UMG boss John Kennedy (right) took over from Jay Berman to run Vivendi Universal, EMI, Warner Music and Sony BMG’s IFPI.
“During his time at Universal Music International, Kennedy was actively involved in the work of IFPI,” it says proudly. “He participated on the Main Board from 2002 to 2004 and chaired IFPI’s European Regional Board from 2003 until his departure from UMI in February 2004.”
Therefore, it’s no surprise he was one of the heavyweight spin doctors slated for Day 8 of The Pirate Bay trial which’ll feature, “several entertainment industry CEOs,” says TorrentFreak’s enigmax who, as ever, is covering the farce with blow-by-blow accounts.
Kennedy, who’s tirelessly local on any and every aspect of file sharing and who attacks TPB at length and in detail at every opportunity, says it’s an “extremely damaging force on the global music industry” and is just “too tempting for people to resist,” says engigmax.
Kennedy’s explanation of the corporate music claim that ‘filed shares equal sales lost’?
“It is common sense, if they couldn`t get it for free they would buy it …”
Ah so.
He also admitted he doesn’ t understand how TPB or even uTorrent works, says enigmax.
While the industry sold ‘product’ in physical form, its problems with counterfeiters and duplicators were minimal, but with the advent of digital music, the situation took a definite nosedive with, “some claiming that copyright didn’t even exist in the digital world,” said Kennedy, noting, “the transition to digital music was a great threat to them, and although more music is currently being consumed than ever before, ‘less is being paid for than ever before’.”
CD sales have dropped from $27 billion to $18 billion over the last decade, said the Big 4 spokesman, explaining the corporate music industry has always relied on young people for sales and, “these same people have got used to using illegal sites,” and, “Many legitimate sites have struggled to compete with free. It’s impossible to compete with free”.
“When put to him that some claim that illegal downloading promotes sales, Kennedy labeled this as old-fashioned thinking and said that people don’t think this way anymore,” says the TorrentFreak post, continuing »»»
When asked about P2P providing live performance promotion, Kennedy said that every single live performance success is linked to a previously successful recording career/sales.
When asked about the differences between TPB and Google, Kennedy said there is no comparison. “We talk to Google all the time about preventing piracy. If you go to Google and type in Coldplay you get 40 million results – press stories, legal Coldplay music, review, appraisals of concerts/records. If you go to Pirate Bay you will get less than 1000 results, all of which give you access to illegal music or videos. Unfortunately The Pirate Bay does what it says in its description and its main aim is to make available unauthorized material. It filters fake material, it authorizes, it induces.”
Kennedy says TPB threat is growing all the time. “They are proud of this with their statistics – there are 22 million users, 1 million visitors each day, 1.6 million .torrent files and they say they are responsible for 55% of BitTorrent traffic. They pride themselves on the quality of what they deliver.”
When questioned about the IFPI’s 10X damages multiplier for pre-release material, Kennedy felt this was fair considering the damage it does to the launch of a product. Kennedy says they have teams of experts monitoring the Internet everyday for piracy.
He went on to say that people who download music from TPB spend much less on music than they would otherwise and if they didn’t get it for free they would buy it. “It is common sense, if they couldn’t get it for free they would buy it and when we ask them, they confirm that.”
When asked if downloaders have less money than others, Kennedy said that younger people have the money but just don’t spend it on music anymore. Kennedy said that the reduction in sales in the music industry is directly attributable to illegal downloading.
When asked about scientific research on the issue, Kennedy said that of several reports, only one said there was no causal link between file-sharing and lost sales – all the rest say there is. Discussion of certain reports on the issue took place, with defense lawyers questioning Kennedy on the details of the reports.
Adds enigmax »»»
Kennedy said he qualified as a lawyer since the 70’s but hasn’t practiced recently. He was asked if he understood BitTorrent. Kennedy said he did, but in “very vague terms.” When the defense lawyers asked more detailed questions, about uTorrent for instance, Kennedy said he’d heard of it but had no idea of the details. It was very clear he knew nothing about any remotely technical issues.
Kennedy was asked if IFPI has taken any action against the actual sharers of the music made available via TPB, as detailed in this case. He said he couldn’t say and didn’t know who these individuals are. He then admitted to not knowing how The Pirate Bay works so the defense lawyers put it to him – if you don’t understand how TPB works, how can you say they are to blame? Again he was pressed why he took no action against the actual sharers but he said he didn’t know and admitted “It’s probably unlikely we took action.”
Kennedy was asked why they haven’t sued Google the same way as TPB. He said that Google said they would partner IFPI in fighting piracy and he has a team of 10 people working with Google every day, and if Google hadn’t announced they were a partner, IFPI would have sued them too.
When pressed on the earlier reports that Kennedy referred to, the defense lawyers wanted to know if IFPI had commissioned any of them. Kennedy said he didn’t know.
Next up was Bertil Sandgren, a board member of the Swedish film institute who claimed there’s statistical evidence that illegal file-sharing has affected the number of seats sold per film.
In Sweden, the ticket sales between 2002-2006 fell by 31%, he said, stating:
“The reason for this drop is that the number of premieres have increased but sales have decreased. File-sharing has somewhat made the market thinner. The difference between number of sold tickets on average has dropped 10,000 per film per year. That equals between 800,000 and 1,000,000 SEK per film.”
Sandgren admitted damages claimed are based on a fictitious license fee.
They, “calculated the total number of movie downloads in a year,” using the film’s market share (4% for the movie ‘Mastermind’) to come up with the total number of downloaders .
“If there were 1 million downloaders in total, it’s probable that 4% downloaded Mastermind,” enigman has Sandgren, saying: “Of those, 28,5% were downloaded from TPB. That gives 12000.”
According to TPB’s lawyers,2008 was the best year for the Swedish movie industry ever,” says TorrentFreak, adding:
“Sandgren said that he didn’t want to comment on factors underlying the success year.”
Stay tuned.
TorrentFreak – Pirate Bay Trial Day 8: Pirates Kill the Music Biz, February 25, 2009
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February 25th, 2009 at 10:31 am
“If there were 1 million downloaders in total, itâs probable that 4% downloaded Mastermind,â enigman has Sandgren, saying: âOf those, 28,5% were downloaded from TPB. That gives 12000.”
In a real court of law, the use of “assumptive mathematics” should automatically disqualify any point made by using it.
These Big Media arguments fail to “entertain” me anymore.
Nothing but complete shit getting slung around!
February 25th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Unfortunately, maybe Ray Beckerman can prove/disprove, I don’t think it really matters if you use distorted or magical math. If you can win the judge/jury over with whatever you say, crying on the stand about how you can’t afford a gold plated Porche for your wife, and how artists are starving, you’ve had to lay off tens of thousands of people etc.. you’ll win the trial.
I don’t think common sense applies in court as much as we would like it to. Some precedents I’ve read about (such as the Facebook one on Michael Geist’s blog) make me question the decisions made in courtrooms and whether they were really for the good of the people at large, or just a clever attempt to win a case at any and all costs.
February 25th, 2009 at 2:35 pm
âWhen put to him that some claim that illegal downloading promotes sales, Kennedy labeled this as old-fashioned thinking and said that people donât think this way anymore,â
This is true. If you are a member of the RIAA, MPAA IFPI meaning basicaly one of the 7 major corporations of parasites you are under boycott until you die.
File sharing have nothing to do with this by the way. Even if they were not file sharing you will be still boycotted.
SORRY!
February 25th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
“Kennedy said that younger people have the money but just donât spend it on music anymore.”
This is true too. Now they buy pest killer to defend themselves against the 7 corporation of parasites.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Despite all the weak arguments and bullshit spouted by big shit media, I can see them winning.
Why?
Because, with relentless pressure, they’ve strongarmed Sweden to into suing TPB for something that wasn’t illegal in their country in the first place.
That relentless pressure included buying all the right politicians and judges to secure that win.
It seems to me that they have to put something together to present as “evidence” in a sham trial – the made up maths is a perfect example. Hence, whe’re seeing them spout lots of garbage and then incredibly, they’ll fucking win!
This is one shining example of blatant corruption.
Fuck I hope I’m wrong.
February 25th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I don’t believe his BS that file sharing is affecting the premieres because movies are typically not on p2p until the DVD are released save for very few exceptions. So he is full of it.
Why Am I not surprise?
Let’s finish up these parasites now!
Let’s rebuild this industry with better people!
February 25th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
I thought this was about music and not films. This trail is just a f**king joke, and the problem is these f**kers will win (music industry).
February 25th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
âThe reason for this drop is that the number of premieres have increased but sales have decreased.”
And it cant be because………
Most of the movies are SHIT??
Ticket prices are stupid??
And who in HELL wants to pay $3.50-$5.00 for a soda or a tiny ass bag of candy ????
Look, the real deal is this, if (and i reallly mean IF) i had the money to go to a movie
or buy a CD. I’m smart enough to realize i cant afford to spend $50-$70 US (family of 4)
for a POS movie that i wouldn’t download when it does hit TPB.
And I’m damn sure not putting $10-$20 down on a CD that, if i like the band, MIGHT have 2-3 tracks i like
So, no lost sales here, you wouldn’t get my money anyway!!!
stw
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:19 am
Avast Ye Landlubbers, check out my CARTOON about the Pirate Bay Trial
http://www.pcdisorder.com/2009/03/pirate-bay-trial-almost-over-before-it.html