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Originally Posted by Chris T
Technology journalist Andrew Orlowski has suggested that a 'tax' on top of monthly ISP subscription charges could be collected and paid to the music industry in order to 'pay' for illegally downloaded tracks. He sees it as a way of tackling the online piracy problem in an 'enlightened' way.
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Maybe he's a reader of this site - it was an idea I floated a couple of months back on the
very last post
I also want to make clear that I don't think this is a workable solution - I'm sure the 'industry' is very happy about it, but I can't ever see it happening.
I mean, could I ask for a refund becuase the new [insert artist here] album is rubbish?
What would be more workable is embedding quality rights management into p2p networks, so everyone can own everything, but downloading it has a fair cost implication to the downloader. Of course there will be the people who will try and get round it, but then they are the in the minority - most reasonable people don't have an issue for paying a small amount for music - it would also silence the 'CD's cost too much' brigade.
Back to the idea Andrew Orlowski is touting...I'm not really sure what makes him qualified to talk to a music industry conference on the subject - he is a technology journalist (of some disrepute if some of the things I've read about him are true) and as far as I can make out has no real dealings of note in the music industry.
That said, whilst I don't agree with his 'idea' opening up the subject to debate within the industry is a good thing as it will start to make people think about more suitable ways of paying for music.
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Originally Posted by Chris T
The thing that gets me is the arrogant assumption that it's the music industry that should be first in line to benefit from any extra revenue that might be screwed out of internet users.
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I agree, this is another reason why this is unworkable. If this were to happen, then you can be sure the software industry will be asking for their bit, the movie companies theirs and everyone else too.
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Originally Posted by Chris T
Entertainers of all kinds (by which I mean footballers and actors as well as pop musicians) enjoy a status and earning power out of all proportion with the rest of the Western economy and arguably always wildly out of proportion to their contribution to society
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Whilst I hear what you're saying, for every megastar there's dozens of minor or unsigned acts not earning enough to live on. The internet, used properly, can open the market up to these guys (many of which are arguably more talented than the Hear'says and Girls Aloud of this world).
I'm very interested in the new Stelios model of copyleft music downloads, where the artist is able to grown their audience and charge fees for their songs if they wish (once they become established I guess). I think this is a much more suitable avenue to explore than taxing ISP's.
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Originally Posted by Salu
If CD's were £5.99 and you could have downloaded them legitimately for a few years per track then I doubt their income stream would have been under threat. Their greed has led them gently into a downfall.
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It's interesting, a few years ago people were saying 'if CD's were £10 then I would buy them'. Now they are under that price, I see that figure is now £6. And if they were £6, no doubt people would be saying, 'if CD's were under £4..... '