“Connect with music fans, don’t punish them!’
p2pnet news view Music | P2P | Politics:- “In all the coverage of Lord Mandelson’s sudden support for a ‘three strikes’ policy to tackle unauthorised file sharing, few people are asking the key questions: how will kicking file sharers off the internet based on accusations (not convictions) of multiple attempts to share unauthorised content actually help the entertainment industry make money? How will it actually make anyone buy anything more from the industry?”
Excellent questions, and asking them is TechDirt’s Mike Masnick (right) in Britain’s Telegraph.
They’re particularly apt given the renewed emphasis on ACTA, the entertainment industry’s Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
Referring to it, “ISPs around the world may be forced to snoop on their subscribers and cut them off if they are found to have shared copyright-protected music on the Internet, under an international agreement being promoted by the U.S.,” says the IDG News Service.
“Promoted by America, Yes,” says p2pnet, “but on behalf of the entertainment industry,” going on, “the Three Strikes and you’re Off The Net ‘initiative’ touted around the world as individual government plans is nothing but a part of a carefully orchestrated campaign to turn governments into copyright agencies funded by local taxpayers, and ISPs into copyright police, acting against their own customs.”
In Britain, secretary of state for business Mandelson is fronting the scheme and the “implicit assumption” seems to be, “if people are scared of the punishment, not only will they stop file sharing, they’ll suddenly go back to buying,” says Masnick, continuing »»»
Unfortunately, there’s no evidence to support this. In fact, there’s plenty of evidence to the contrary.
In the US, the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) threatened around 18,000 people, not with disconnection from the internet but with huge, potentially multi-million dollar, fines. That’s surely worse than losing your internet connection but rather than scaring people back into buying music, it acted as advertising for file sharing. More people than ever started file sharing and fewer people decided to buy music directly.
Scaring people about the trouble they might get into through file sharing has done nothing to get people to buy more. The ‘stick’ approach doesn’t work.
Instead, what seems to work is the ‘carrot’ approach: giving music fans a real reason to buy. Many musical acts have figured this out – finding ways to better connect with their fans and providing different options for fans to buy their work.
Declaring war on fans who want to share some music they like with others doesn’t better connect musicians with fans. Kicking fans off the internet doesn’t give them a reason to buy. The industry wants to punish music fans for what the technology lets them do, rather than adjusting their business model.
“While many smart artists — big, medium and small — have figured out ways to adjust and give fans what they want, record labels themselves still don’t seem to have understood,” says Masnick, adding:
“Instead they want government and ISPs to punish fans, hoping that this will somehow, magically, get people to buy products they’ve shown no interest in buying for quite some time.”
Stay tuned.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win ~ Mahatma Gandhi
Telegraph – Stop punishing fans and start selling to them, November 4, 2009
renewed emphasis – Three strikes world-wide, and a global DMCA, November 4, 2009
IDG News Service – Trade Talks Hone in on Internet Abuse and ISP Liability, November 3, 2009
p2pnet – Three strikes world-wide, and a global DMCA, November 4, 2009
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November 4th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
With the revelations surrounding the cartels forcing ISP’s to (presumably illegally) intercept traffic they are doing all they can to make sure that I (and millions of others) boycott them for life.
Way to look after your shareholders guys.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
i think it is time for an organized boycott of riaa and mpaa products for a week.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
Well, reading your site and techdirt’s has really helped to keep me informed of the dirty extortion tactics being perpetrated by Big Media and especially the RIAA & MPAA in the name of “copyright”.
The effect has been that I hardly buy any RIAA controlled music or go to the cinema any more, in protest.
And I hardly do any “illegal” downloading, either and never have. How’s that for irony?
Yup, I’ve got no reason to buy.
Fuck you, assholes.
November 4th, 2009 at 3:47 pm
lol
apple should be fighting this 3 stricks law.
if the person has no internet how will they be able to turn over a new leaf and start buying them from itunes?
November 4th, 2009 at 3:49 pm
Quote “i think it is time for an organized boycott of riaa and mpaa products for a week.”
make that 1 month, lets go for the balls, not the fingers
November 4th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Boycotts have been in hand for years and they’re definitely having an effect. Count on it.
However, there’s no way the cartels can admit it, or even acknowledge it’s going on, so they blame diminishing sales on market conditions, file sharers, etc and so on.
Cheers!
November 4th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
if i havent got 20$ now how will cutting me off get me to buy music. im unemployed they have no idea. oh oh ive been cut off. oh no i go out and spend on music and movies .mmmm thats what they think underground private internet for me find me then idiots lol
November 5th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I haven’t purchased a CD or DVD since I first visited here months ago. I always remind my friends the big downside to buying a CD every time they are planning to purchase one.
When I see these kind of choices:
“Whole album for sale on iTunes in 256 kbps AAC for $9.99!”
or
“Whole album in LOSSLESS on The Pirate Bay for FREE!”
I’ll just answer it like this: More money left for real living like paying rent!
The last time I went to the cinema, it was on my mind that some of my hard earned cash went to the fucking film industry! The film sucked as well!
November 7th, 2009 at 12:29 am
I stopped buying CDs the moment the RIAA started suing people. This will not change as long as the lawsuit policy continues. At this point even if they stopped suing people I wouldn’t give them any money, too much bad blood has been spilled. That’s what the a2f2a site is about, getting artist paid without financing the RIAA parasites.