Intersection 03: Control. Shift. Delete?

Back in the day, before the term “music sharing” was coined, music-lovers had greater access to the albums they loved thanks to the humble blank cassette tape. Now, the blank cassette tape has been replaced by the 0s and the 1s; a click of the mouse, and one gets the much sought after album or song downloaded into one’s hard drive.

As the internet revolutionized the way data is manipulated, the act of music sharing has been brought front and center in the battle waged by the recording industry against the attack on their purse. News abound of lawsuits against not only sites that provide the means to download music content for free (remember Napster?) but even against those individuals who illegally download such licensed works.

And this is where I think they got it all wrong.

While there may be legal grounds to go after the consumers who illegally download, there may be a greater business opportunity that the industry is missing out on.

I’m no business guy, but when one looks at the music being downloaded by those in Third World countries such as ours, one sees that the type of music being downloaded is not just confined to what MTV sells. Through the internet, many music lovers have found other artists that suit their fancy, or at least, tickle their interest. The internet basically opened up access to the artists of the world in a way that the traditional business setup never imagined. When they say that something good can come out of something bad, perhaps this is what internet piracy is telling the music industry.

The patronage that piracy gets is perhaps indicative of the fact that consumers want something more from the industry. Perhaps people have been fed up with the usual blah that record stores (actual and online) put out on their shelves, and have been in the lookout for something different. Perhaps people’s musical sensibilities are changing. Perhaps it’s time for the industry to adapt.

Suing the very people who consume music may not be the best way to deal with piracy (if it is viewed as a problem). Why alienate the very people who are the potential source of profits? This is, I think, one of those instances when the legal remedy is not the best remedy. A paradigm shift in the way the business is approached in view of the internet revolution may be a better option.

Here’s a thought (and many musicians have been doing this): Cut out the middlemen.

-- William G. Ragamat