[Fmpro] P2P Piracy

[Eric Goetz]

On Fri, Apr 11, 2008 at 2:14 PM, Simon Barber <simon at simonbarber.com> wrote:

> DRM is widely regarded as a broken model.


Chris, you make a lot of good points, but I agree with Simon on the issue of
DRM.  DRM, or at least copy protection, sucks for the consumer, and doesn't
help artists.  The cat is out of the bag.  We will never be able to control
distribution of our music.  A PRO-like / blanket license model would be a
much better strategy to make sure artists are paid.  I don't have a concrete
solution to present, but I believe that is the direction the industry should
be going.

My perception comes from my (limited) experience.  The most successful album
(a indie release) I've been involved with had more revenue from licensing
and royalties than from CD/download sales.  I'm hearing more and more
stories like this.

I would also add that I believe the effect that illegal downloading has had
on the music industry has been somewhat exaggerated.  Most of the claims on
lost revenues have all had the assumption that someone that downloaded an
mp3 would have bought the CD, if downloading it illegally would not have
been an option.  That's almost never the case.  Also remember that just
before the collapse, everyone was repurchasing their entire record
collection on CD.  Record companies found they could make tons of money on
their back catalog, without having to invest in new artists.  This effect
was exaggerated when Soundscan came along and record companies had good data
for the 1st time on just how valuable their back catalogs were.   The boom
that the industry experienced in the late 80's and early 90's was never
sustainable, even if the internet had never exploded.

My 2 cents...
Eric