U2 Challenges Internet Providers
The world famous band U2’s advocacy on fairness is echoed not only by its four members, but by its manager as well. Paul McGuinness, U2’s manager for the past thirty years, challenged Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to take up the cudgels against freeloaders who get their music fix from illegal downloads. He called for immediate disconnection policies and added that governments should prod the ISPs as well.
Monday’s MIDEM conference saw McGuinness lying bare “what has gone wrong with the music business”. His speech assigned blame on three parties: record companies that “allowed an entire collection of digital industries to arise that enabled the consumer to steal with impunity the very recorded music that had previously been paid for”, Silicon Valley corporations that produced gadgets that enabled ripping content from records, and governments that removed blame from ISPs, should illegal transactions occur during their watch.
McGuinness emphasized that the three involved needed to responsibly work hand-in-glove to stop the illegal pilfering and peddling of legitimate music. ISPs, in particular, should “protect the music” and “make a genuine effort to share the enormous revenues (with the artists)”.
McGuinness added that “ISPs have the power to change all this pretty much overnight,” noting the ability of ISPs to stop illegal file swiping through tougher disconnection clauses.
[Editor's Note: Perhaps the Record Industry needs to look to themselves first. Their pricing models are totally out of line with their product. If CDs sold for $3.00 instead of $17-$25, there would be little or no incentive. If pricing is fair, most consumers will buy. Just look at the movie industry - it costs $200,000,000.00 to make a decent movie now, yet the DVD mostly sells for about $15. It's all about value. Something Tiger has understood for 20 years!]
Contributor: Arne Galang, TigerDirect Correspondent
Source: ZDnet
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