30 mars 2004 21:09

Interestingly enough, as the news item about the survey moved off that Home page list, a new story, about how Kazaa owner welcomes the study, saying it just emphasizes once again that if the industry tried to work with peer-to-peer networks instead of fighting them, it would be a win-win situation all around.

While the RIAA is quite prompt at decrying piracy as the source of all it's woes, let's not forget that it is not the music industry that has made headways in legal distribution of music onlines.

It is individual companies - like Apple for example, or Napster more recently - as well as artists - Peter Gabriel comes to mind - that have taken the steps to make legitimate downloads happen.

There is yet to be a clear move by the music industry to:
a) launch a global download service that doesn't drown in copyright negociations on every continent;
b) that is capable of offering comprehensive catalogues of artist's works, not just fragmentary ones;
c) demonstrate it actually understands what consumers want - affordable music playable on different platforms - and provide that, without making it a pain in the you know what to save or transfer.

Respecting copyright is one thing. Sponsoring an obsolete distribution and production system that delivers its product in a format that is less and less wanted is another.