Rich Fiscus
30 Jan 2008 23:11
U2 manager Paul McGuinness recently made a big impression at the MIDEM music industry convention in Cannes by calling out everyone from ISPs to customers. Sounding much like he was reading talking points for international recording industry trade organization IFPI, he said ISPs "have for too long had a free ride on music."
Despite chiding the industry for not "catering to people who want to hear music through big speakers rather than ear buds" and a "lack of foresight and poor planning" he says that ISPs are the real problem because he feels they only have broadband internet customers because of illegal music downloads. He said "It is time for ISPs to be real partners. The safe harbours of the 1990s are no longer appropriate, and if ISPs do not cooperate voluntarily there will need to be legislation to require them to cooperate."
Perhaps this is where the real disconnect between the music business and the rest of the world happens. As one Verizon executive pointed out recently, if ISPs become responsible for copyright enforcement what else should they be expected to be responsible for? And what of privacy - at what point is an internet-bound communication considered private?
It's easy to lay the responsibility at ISPs' feet, but much harder to identify any benefit for them beyond the gratitude of the music and movie industries. If anythying it conceivably opens them up to liabilities they don't have now for essentially reading customers' confidential communications.
He also mentioned Radiohead's recent release of their album as a digital download with payment on a voluntary basis, noting that this didn't stop it from appearing on P2P networks. According to McGuinness this "showed that if not constrained, the customer will steal music."