‘Stomping out piracy’
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- ‘We’re outta here,’ said TAG Strategic managing partner Ted Cohen, also declaring:
“We are no longer railing against technological advancements.”
His words came at the recent Midem fest was because, “Executives agreed that while in previous years the music industry had swung between nervousness to outright hostility towards the Internet and mobile telephone makers particularly on the issue of piracy, the mood had changed at MIDEM 2009,” he said.
TechDirt founder Mike Manick was also there and as he posts in TechDirt, “My initial summary of my trip to the Midem music industry event in January was that it was about turning ‘optimism into denial’.”
He goes on »»»
There was a tremendous sense of optimism from all sorts of upstarts: musicians and companies who were really innovating and creating wonderful success stories over and over again. And then… the old school industry guys showed up.
They spoke about the optimism and the success stories… and said a few things that made it sound like the got it. They talked about ending this “war” with consumers, and focusing on solutions that worked.
But, then the clouds would descend, and they’d immediately start angrily saying that even with these great new business models and innovations, “we need to stomp out piracy.”
In doing so, they demonstrated how severely they missed the point — and it’s now showing in their actions. We’ve been seeing more braindead maneuvers over the last month with highly questionable lawsuits, and licensing decisions that only serve to piss off users.
It seems that my initial read is (unfortunately) the same conclusion others are coming to as well. Two of the “industry insiders” I got to meet at the event — who both came down on the “optimistic” side at the event have each written up blog posts for the MidemNet blog, complaining about the very same thing. That initial sense of optimism that was seen at the event has pretty much gone away — crushed by dumb moves within the industry.
Ted Cohen, who helped moderate much of the event, diplomatically points out that for all the talk of collaboration at the event, the chaos isn’t over, and he wonders when we’ll actually get down to business. Meanwhile, Bruce Houghton (of the excellent Hypebot blog) more specifically fears that all the talk of a more collaborative approach was nothing more than talk — and there is no intention to really collaborate.
This is a pretty big problem — and I obviously won’t speak for either Bruce or Ted, who I’m pretty sure would disagree with this assessment — but, it won’t change until the old system and the old structures and the “old guard” are finally pushed out.
There are tons of success stories — but those are in spite of the industry, not because of it.
It’s time to wipe out the house of cards that the industry has built in terms of Rube Goldbergian copyright licensing schemes, and start fresh. There are business models that work great for everyone — but the current system is designed to allow bystanders and middlemen to profit at the expense of the musicians and the public.
However, “Get rid of the old system,” suggests, “and everyone but those middlemen will benefit.”
We’re outta here – Has Big Music seen the light?, January 22, 2209
TechDirt – Recording Industry, Once Again, Stomps Out Optimism, March 5, 2009
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March 7th, 2009 at 5:24 pm
They will be no salvation for these old recording industry parasites and their corrupted lawers. We will never stop the boycott against them until there is nothing left to boycott.
We are waiting for the scourges to die to re-enter the discussion about what to do with internet and artists.
I am sure we can rebuild something great once the parasites are out of the picture.
We are the customers. We decide who got our money and who don’t.
We decided a while ago and after the RIAA decided to extort and rip-off innocent people with pseudo legal intimidation tactics that none of the RIAA members will get our money.
We are legions and our rank is still growing. We recruit more people each day they comit crimes against our societies. It took us a while to sink all their boats of garbages but finally we are getting there.
Yet the boycott is not over and we have to eradicate any remainning tumor cells to cure our society:
BOYCOTT THE MAJORS OF THE ENTAIRTAINEMENT INDUSTRY!
7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 ,1 . . . . HEHE!
March 7th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Did it six years ago.
March 7th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Boycott the majors that is.
March 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The “old school industry guys” can all just wander off and drown themselves like the stupid lemmings they are.
1. They (and everybody dumb enough to still defend them) understand absolutely NOTHING about creativity, innovation, the fact that IP monopolies were originally designed to expire, etc. They can’t even get “customer satisfaction” right (hence the tanking sales-figures, widespread hatred, and — despite their own views on the subject — COMPLETE irrelevance.)
To put it bluntly: let ‘em be “pessimistic” — it means we — a rag-tag, disorganized, grassroots, usually noncommercial, non-corporate bunch of copyfighters, public domain preservationists, music bloggers, p2p advocates, etc. — have managed to at the very least, seriously “inconvenience” these organizations (MAFIAA, etc.) to the point where they’re sucking up to various governments, desperately trying to half innovation and burn the public domain to the ground, just to preserve their “business model.”
Sorry, no sympathy here. Just like no sympathy for bankers. No sympathy for “defense” contractors like Blackwater International. No sympathy for ANY of them — EVER.
Above and beyond all that: NO sympathy for those who act as apologists for the aforementioned organization: there’s only two reasons you’d defend them: either you’re ignorant (in which case the solution is to wise up), or you think supporting them will benefit you in some way — which, guess what — means that you’re exactly like them, just on a smaller scale.
We ain’t havin’ it.
“Thus far, and no further”.
March 7th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
As has been pointed out before, those CEO of the major labels are still living in the days of yesteryear. They believe they can turn it around if they fight it hard enough and beat the drum long enough. It’s been a dismal failure and has resulted in customer ill will and literally hatred for the enforcement arms which transfer right back to the majors themselves. The enforcement arms were set up to be lobbying group, enforcement, and lightning rod for the ire of the majors actions.
None of it is working quite right. Lobbying has gotten copyright clear out of reason. So badly so, no one is paying attention to it unless you’re a business. Enforcement has resulted in turning off a whole generation of potential customers. What used to be one of their stronger music fan base. The lightning rod part is coming home to roost too.
The only ones that haven’t really gotten the message over at the majors are the CEOs that provide the directions for the industry.
I have every faith that changes are coming. They will and have been slow to be sure. DRM has been thrown out as no customer wants it and they are in mass voting with their wallets. The voting with the wallet part is the driver, make no mistake here. The dire economy will help speed this along.
When it is so bad they are walking around trying to figure out how to make a buck it will eventually hit them that their direction is wrong. This is what it will take for a corporation whose sole purpose for existence is profit. Either the senior CEOs will retire or be retired in order to finally seek a new way.
It isn’t that any solutions haven’t been offered. It isn’t that no one wants a license to sell on the net. It isn’t that no one is willing to finance new methods. The sole and only hold back to the majors returning to profit is the unwillingness to give up control to make a buck. Sooner or later it will be proved that the CEOs are the main reason the majors aren’t headed upwards in profit. Till they get it in their heads that the customer wants it his way and is not willing to spend the bucks till he has it that way, this will continue in loss of profit. When it turns around, they will return to making profit, even in a depression.
Notice I said the evil word that all our politicians are dancing around trying not to say. Crap it took them a year, not two consecutive quarters to even acknowledge the recession. I believe if the yard stick to measure whose out of work were returned to an accurate measurement, all the figures are in place to show not only are the figures worse than we are seeing in the news media but it has actually already went past depression. There is no sight at present in the decline of lost jobs. There is no leveling out at present in sight for the stock market. Every indicator is still showing an economy falling off a cliff with no good news in sight.
In spite of all the bad news, the music industry could turn it all around tomorrow, provided…
March 7th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
“hereâs only two reasons youâd defend them: either youâre ignorant (in which case the solution is to wise up)”
Umm, sorry, gotto disagree with you there they _cant_ wise up… as a comedian (cant remember his name) so eloquently put it:
There’s no cure for stupid.
March 8th, 2009 at 2:03 am
BTW those majors made 9billion in profits last year
by there own account.
and they haven’t turned around they are in fact same old same old as in lawsuits r them.
i’m leaving the internet for good shortly cause im sick of all the bickering and yea harassment.
plus ill save 45$ a month that i can buy kraft dinner with.
all i have to say is good riddance and hope you all enjoy what they are doing to the soul of this planet.
BAD enough the americans have wrecked havoc all over the earth with there wars and greed , that they will now destroy anything you can enjoy that was meant to be enjoyed means were in for a very very bad decade.
At its end if things change for real we shall see, watch obama slide to the same old as attention moves on.
Republicans don’t seriously try for power until times are good and they aint gonna be good for a long long long time.
March 8th, 2009 at 2:15 am
9 billion?
March 8th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Offtopic to the post, but here is the brainwashing propaganda on behalf of the media kartels coming out of the Government of Quebec:
http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/eng/particulier/votre_situation/jeunes_enseignants/COM-293-V(2009-01).pdf (view Page 6)
Economics teachers are supposed to propel that propaganda to Secondary 5 students in Quebec.
Jon, since you are homeschooling your children, you definitely should have experience in neutering the brainwashing propaganda coming out of the kartels, via the governments, lamescream media and schools teachers. How are you doing it? What would you tell other parents so that they become more involved in schooling and raising their kids in general? You see, children who go to public or private schools are forced to listen to that brainwashing from those who exerce authority on them, and this must be neutralized.
March 8th, 2009 at 5:08 pm
The link to the Quebec Government propaganda got mangled, here is another try:
http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/eng/particulier/votre_situation/jeunes_enseignants/COM-293-V%282009-01%29.pdf
And more food for thought to the parents is here:
http://www.astronomybuff.com/why-im-homeschooling-my-kid-in-science-next-year/
March 8th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
And more food for thought to the parents is here:
http://www.astronomybuff.com/why-im-homeschooling-my-kid-in-science-next-year/
In Quebec, the school system does not seem as pathetic as they have it down there in the States, but the general problem of “teaching to the test”, “teaching to obey” instead of teaching to think critically, etc… remains.