Fixing a broken model
The UK government has brokered a deal between ISPs and the music industry in which ISPs will send angry letters to people who download music illegally. The letters won’t include any threats and, if people choose to ignore them nothing will happen. So it all looks like a pretty pointless exercise.
The deal also obliges ISPs to develop their own legal online music services although why they think anyone will use them – especially when you consider that several such services already exist – is unclear, to say the least.
It should go without saying that if someone creates content professionally they should be able to draw an income from their work. It’s also clear that the current music industry model of distributing music on physical objects is looking increasingly broken.
It’s also worth noting that ISPs have expressed concerns about rising bandwidth demands caused by – among other things – filesharing.
It strikes me, therefore, that there is an opportunity here to kill two birds with one stone by recognising that filesharing will continue and building a business model around this fact.
Such a scheme would involve ISPs offering two packages: a cheap, limited bandwidth one which would be sufficient for general use and a more expensive, very high or unlimited bandwidth package. The ISPs would then need to negotiate with the Performing Rights Society (PRS) so that a percentage of the revenue is handed over to the PRS to be distributed to musicians in the same way that they handle licensing fees from TV and radio.
Such a scheme would need no policing – either you stay within your bandwidth quota or you pay more – and would ensure that musicians are paid for their work without anyone having to be threatened with anything.
Friday 25 Jul 2008 | Paul | Corporate Maneuverings, Technology
