Sunday, June 3, 2007

In DRM we trust: world collection societies wring hands over P2P copying

In DRM we trust: world collection societies wring hands over P2P copying: The world's collection societies gathered in Brussels this week to discuss how artists could get paid in a digital world. The result: compulsory licensing is (still) out, DRM is (still) in.

The combination of greed, technical ignorance, and anger about losing a cozy life will keep the music industries on the path to destruction, even when the life raft of compulsory licensing is at hand. Eric Batiste, who runs the umbrella licensing organization CISAC:

I agree, it's very difficult to compete with free... but we need more compelling offerings as well as better enforcement. The killer app is not there yet.

The "killer app" is the golden-egg goose of this industry, and just as real. As for better enforcement, it would be interesting to know what fraction of scarce law enforcement resources do these guys think they are entitled to in a world where real mayhem is all too frequent.

Batiste also compared casual infringement to speeding - we all want do it, but we know we'll get caught. This is a good analogy. To judge from the proportion of speeders on any freeway I've been on in the last ten years, it's obvious that the perceived odds of getting caught are in the speeder's favor.

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