Comments on: Is free music the solution to pirated music?

By: Abdul Bijur

Abdul Bijur — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:13:35 +0000

Just because a large amount of music piracy happens through p2p systems, it doesnt make the p2p systems evil. p2p protocol is one of the most innovative libraries available in the world. The ability to share documents (secure and not), books, media anything and everything digital without having to rent out a ISP hosting service working purely out of like minded generous people willing to share a little bit of their resources is a fantastic idea. Its a pity it was put to such notorious use.
Similiar examples of such activities are the largest super computer in the world, SETI@home which is a network of millions of computers each devoting a little of their CPU time.
About this topic, the reasons why distributors of music are worried about their current payment package of 0.6 per song is that earlier to the pre-Itunes era, you could release an album with 2 good songs and 8 trashy songs and sell it for a premium. This means to listen to the 2 good songs, a user has to buy all the songs in the album. Now, with itunes letting them download simply the two good songs, their margin just got reduced from 0.6 * 10 to 0.6 * 2 which is an 80% reduction in their revenues. All the more reason for them to hate this. What it does for the music industry is , we see a lot more albums which are of overall better quality.
Ever since Canada had legalized p2p downloads, there has been various debates on either side of the fence. One interesting study found that allowing p2p downloads actually _increased_ the CD sales. This could be because of the fact that allowing users to sample mp3’s , a larger number of users have a higher visibility to resources and hence if they like it, they would want to own the CD.
The Research work is available here.

By: Josep Valor

Josep Valor — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 22:16:07 +0000

It is true that music is expensive to produce and requires a lot of work, but does not imply profitability. Many products and services require lots of work and investment and have a hard time capturing the value they bring to the system. Think of PCs, for example. I believe the music industry has structural problems brought by new distribution channels that have made their traditional way of getting revenues obsolete, and that playing violin in the upper deck of the Titanic while is sinking will not do much good…

By: Guillermo Barth

Guillermo Barth — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 22:47:39 +0000

In this case, I don’t know who the thief is.
Music shouldn’t be free, as there’s a lot of work, behind a final song.
But on the other hand, CD’s price seems to high.
In any case, the way of trying to avoid piraty, by searching alternative “legal solutions”, will probably bring benefits for the industry.

By: Evgeny Kaganer

Evgeny Kaganer — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 09:20:01 +0000

Still working on getting the RSS feed up. I’ll let you know once we have it.

By: AntónioCostaAmaral (AA)

AntónioCostaAmaral (AA) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 17:04:42 +0000

off topic
http://news.zdnet.com/2424-9595_22-240240.html
Any luck with the RSS feed?