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Tyler Cowen, econ prof at George Mason, has an article on the website of the Social Affairs Unit, designed to explain to citizens of the UK "Why the music industry is suing you, your neighbor, or your child."
Sample:
Two years ago most downloaders did not know that their activities were illegal. Few uploaders felt guilty about making large numbers of songs available for free on the Internet. It was viewed as akin to lending your CDs out to your friends, except that the "friends" here were both anonymous and large in number. "Art should be free," right?
Since the United States lawsuits, there has been a subtle shift of opinion. Many people, especially those beyond their teenage years, are now proud of not being downloaders. They brandish their Apple iPods with pride. The cultural climate has shifted to the point where people, even if they download, are embarrassed to admit as such. Only in the under-twenty crowd is illegal downloading still a badge of honor. And many of these children now face (admittedly imperfect) regulation from their parents.
The music industry knows that the long run will bring a network of free music. It knows that free music may have illegal status, a "grey" status, white status (recorded from the radio), or perhaps be pirate (from abroad) but not illegal in the actionable sense. But there will be two networks, a pay network and a free network.
The pay network stands a good chance of competing against the free network. Perhaps the pay network can offer better sound quality, tie-ins (concert tickets, T-shirts, etc.), upgrades and maintenance service, better information such as album liner notes, song selection services, easier interface, and other benefits. The future course of technology is difficult to predict. Nonetheless it is easy to see why a pay network will have a greater ability to finance these goodies than will a free network.
The music companies - present and future suppliers of the pay network - do not wish to face a ten year period where everyone is used to getting music for free. They do not want an entire generation to grow up thinking of music as a free commodity. They do not want hackers and illegal downloaders to become established as folk heroes. It is an excellent piece, like all of Cowen's work. (He is the author of In Praise of Commercial Culture and Creative Destruction: How Globalization is Changing the World's Cultures.) Read the whole thing.
posted by James DeLong @ 1:48 PM | General
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