New Music Economy—Part 2

In my last rant about piracy and the state of the record business, I took what could be called a pro-industry stance. Well, let's explore the other side of the piracy problem.

People will continue to steal music. So what do we do about it? Do we inform the public? Maybe, but that will be minimally effective, at best. Do we punish the uploaders? I suppose that'd be a good start. Do we punish/close down the conduits such as KaZaa, Limewire, or Bearshare? Without a doubt, we must do that before we do anything else.

The RIAA has chosen the stupidest possible path. They made an example of a single mom of four kids who shared 24 songs. They took her to court and won a judgement of $220,000. She got a pro bono lawyer to fight it, and lost again to the tune of $1.9 million. That's just ridiculous. Not only is the amount of money a staggering overkill, but it makes the mother a sympathetic figure. Threatening her internet service provider, thus putting her at risk of losing internet access might be smarter. The broadband provider would never risk its business by letting this woman maintain an account with them. They should close down her sources of obtaining the new music, as their basis for existence is illegal. They should make it easier for MySpace or whoever's putting the music out there to share some of it consensually.

But they're not doing any of that. Instead, they're coming down like the wrath of God on someone who'll never be able to pay the judgement, and who was caught having pirated twenty four songs. She probably has a lot more pirated music besides those twenty four, but the RIAA didn't even focus on that. It's a public relations disaster that makes the RIAA seem like a bunch of ogres. Let them go after the businesses that deal in pirated music. Cut off the supply. The demand will still be there, but a certain percentage will stop pirating as much music, and the $1.9 million will be more than made up via a much more sensible means.

Public Service Announcements by the artists themselves might not hurt either. .Lawsuits against soccer moms just make the RIAA look stupid, discredit the industry in the eyes of teenagers, giving them one more rationalization to continue stealing. I'd like to see the record business fight piracy effectively. No one loses with good PR. I hope the RIAA, the record companies, and the recording artists figure that out quickly.