Kazaa – on Aussie radio
p2pnet.net Issues:- Hollywood is determined to make sure it controls – utterly – the means by which people acquire music online. (And offline, come to that : ) But millions around the world have realized they no longer have to pay through the nose for whatever the music industry cares to dish out.
Never the twain shall meet, apparently, and in America, Streamcast (Morpheus) and Grokster Ltd (Grokster) have just begun a David and Goliath legal battle against Big Music. At issue is how p2p file sharing will work in the US and, ultimately, in the rest of the world.
However, it could be a long time before the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals reaches a decision and in the meanwhile, Australia is where the action is. There Sharman Networks’ Kazaa – paradoxically, at the same time the most used and most despised p2p application – is grappling with a self-annointed, self-appointed ‘police’ force run by the major record labels in Australia.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a morning show called The 7:30 Report and the subject today was – Kazaa.
Among the interviewees was Michael Speck, the man who runs Big Music’s Australian police service.
“We believe that with pirates out of the marketplace they’ll go to the legitimate operators and allow artists and music businesses to flourish,” he said.
Translate Speck’s comment into real-speak and you get: “We want it all, say the labels.”
Now read on >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
TV PROGRAM TRANSCRIPT
LOCATION: http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2004/s1043987.htm
Broadcast: 12/02/2004
Kazaa in legal battle
Reporter: KERRY O’BRIEN – Now to the Australian company at the epicentre of a global legal battle with enormous implications for the future of the world record industry.
For almost two years, millions of Internet users around the world have exchanged songs through the Sydney-based Internet service Kazaa, which allows users to share their computer files online.
This week five major record labels have joined forces to take Kazaa to court, claiming copyright infringement.
Last year the Dutch Supreme Court dismissed a similar case, while an American court is still considering the record companies case.
While the record companies argue that Kazaa is profiting by piracy, Kazaa counters that it provides nothing more than a connection between Internet users.
Andrew Geoghegan reports.
SEAN ROBINSON: It doesn’t cost anything. I don’t have to go down to the shop now the shop is pretty much in my house. It’s that virtual shopfront.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: This is how 18-year-old Sean Robinson shops for his music. Logging on to a file-sharing website such as Kazaa allows him to download music millions of Internet users around the world are willing to share for free.
SEAN ROBINSON: Kazaa and P2P networks are good because they allow me to access music that I may not be able to get because I cannot afford it or find it. For a multitude of reasons it is good.
TIM DEAN, EDITOR PC AUTHORITY: As you can see, we are connected now. There are 2.8 millions users online. They are sharing 450 million files and that comes to 3.7 million gigabytes in information. So that is a staggering number of people on there just right now.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: IT writer Tim Dean explains why file sharing has exploded in popularity.
TIM DEAN: All it takes for me to use a P2P file sharing system is to turn on my PC, sit down and type in my name. I can download it and listen to it within five to 10 minutes of me hearing it on the radio.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Peer to peer software means there is no central site for distributing information. Instead, Internet users log on to a program such as Kazaa to connect directly with each other. This allows them to search for and swap digital information.
DAVID CASSELMAN, SHAMAN [sic : ] NETWORKS: Everything from independent music and movies and dating services and video games and many, many more applications that are are being developed daily and that’s why it’s been downloaded 300 million times more than any other software application in history.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: The popularity of free music websites such as Kazaa has the music industry worried and for good reason. In the past year, CD music sales have fallen more than 17 per cent while the industry claims it’s losing $200 million a month in royalties.
MICHAEL SPECK, MUSIC INDUSTRY PIRACY INVESTIGATIONS: It’s very clear that an industry cannot compete against another corporation that takes their property without permission for their own benefit.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: The major recording labels call it piracy and it’s prompted them to take legal action against the Australian company Sharman Networks, owner of Kazaa, the world’s most popular music sharing site. Michael Speck heads the music industry’s piracy investigations unit.
MICHAEL SPECK: Quite simply, they have established in Australia a global operation that is a clear-cut infringement of copyright. They trade in other people’s music. It’s for their benefit. They know it’s wrong. They acknowledge it’s wrong and it’s time for it to stop.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Frustrated, the Australian recording industry has resorted to legal means. A Federal Court order allowing the industry to raid the offices of Sharman Networks and seize documents to use in a civil action to stop the distribution of unlicensed music.
DAVID CASSELMAN: They contend that because we facilitated in the sense that it’s possible that we’re responsible for what end users do.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: It is well known you can log on to Kazaa and download songs for free. Are you not fostering piracy?
DAVID CASSELMAN: No more than Google is fostering piracy because you can search on Google and find songs. AOL Instant Messenger allows you to transfer. HP’s CD burner allows you to burn. Are they fostering? You can go to the Xerox machines. There are a million technologies that are in the loop.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: But you are not actively discouraging, are you?
DAVID CASSELMAN: We do not promote it or release it.Sharman, the Kazaa website, requires every user to sign an end user license agreement that they will not violate the copyright laws of any country in which they are using the software.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Sharman Networks has offered to cut a deal with the recording industry to supply fully licensed music but the record companies aren’t interested.
MICHAEL SPECK: It’s important that when Kazaa’s illegal activity is finally stopped people do go somewhere else. We believe that with pirates out of the marketplace they’ll go to the legitimate operators and allow artists and music businesses to flourish.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Unlike the music industry distributor Napster, which was closed down by the recording industry, Kazaa does not have a library of music. Sharman Networks is fighting back by working to remove record companies from the whole equation of producing and distributing artists.
DAVID CASSELMAN: All of their music will be created through producers and artists and straight to Kazaa, the idea being that this is the most efficient way to distribute it and they don’t need the studios.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: But up-and-coming artists are sceptical.
NICK NEAL, MUSICIAN: I don’t think things like file sharing with Kazaa really promote sort of lesser-known bands. I think the sort of records that are on the shelves that HMV that people are buying a lot of copies of are the ones being download a lot.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: Nick Neal, bass band player with the band Starky, says aspiring chart toppers need music listeners to pay CD prices for their music to fund their work.
NICK NEAL: If I found out people were downloading thousands and thousands of copies of our album off the Net, that is affecting our income and us paying back our advances to our record label. Obviously that is going to limit what sort of future I have as a musician, really.
ANDREW GEOGHEGAN: But artists may have little choice but to join the cyberspace bandwagon if they’re to make it in the real world.
TIM DEAN: There are a lot of other file sharing applications out there. Some of them are decentralised and cannot be brought down. The record industry will have a constant battle against these kind of things. They will never be able to wipe them out totally.
SEAN ROBINSON: There will be another person who will make another one that they will try and close. You just can’t close something like this. It would be better if they work with it instead of against it.
February 13th, 2004 at 12:38 am
It’s actually an evening national TV show.
February 13th, 2004 at 5:27 am
ok… the record industry was actually allowed to create a quasi police force?
am i reading this properly?
im surprised there werent riots in the streets.
February 14th, 2004 at 3:07 am
“The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has a morning show called The 7:30 Report and the subject today was – Kazaa.”
LOL! wicked whats the frequency for this morning radio show? lol..
I would much rather watch Kerry O’brien at 7:30pm on “The 7:30 Report” you stupid honkey yankee moron!
February 14th, 2004 at 8:28 am
Yes, indeed. You lot are suppost to present facts, yet you can’t get the type of program right. Sheesh.
February 14th, 2004 at 8:35 am
Recording Industry Out! We don’t want you here. Go back where you came from: that hellhole known as the USA.
February 16th, 2004 at 3:35 am
They went to court and got an order.
They are the same as the RIAA, except with less powers due to no DMCA here. Unless they pass that f*cking Free Trade Agreement which means we need to change our copyright laws to be more like the DMCA.