[pp.int.general] Pirate Bay

[Ole Husgaard]

Reinier Bakels skrev:
> In the aftermath of last weeks Pirate Bay decision, I read a lot of articles about "illegal DOWNloading", even in the "quality newspaper" I am subscribed to. I thino of writing them a letter. What are the right arguments?
>   
The argument I have used in DK with some success is:

Recording companies are taking most of the profits from the people who
make the music. Because of this the people who make new music are
looking for new business models where the recording companies are not
needed.

One of these business models is to legally allow free distribution of
the music to find a large audience, and then analyze downloads to find
out where most tickets can be sold for concerts.

The problem for the musician with this business model is that if he gets
popular and is distributing from his own web site he will get a large
bill for the internet traffic (or get blocked by the hosting provider).
Because of this, file-sharing networks is a good option, as the musician
does not have to pay anything. Of course these musicians selects large
and popular file-sharing networks (like TPB) and file-sharing networks
that are positive towards musicians and dont like recording companies
(like TPB).

The recording industry is of course afraid of this business model. They
know it is going to be their death if it prevails. So they are of course
fighting it. And the best way of fighting it is to stop the most popular
distribution channel of the musicians who are using this new business
model (The Pirate Bay).

So the _real_ reason the recording industry is going against TPB is that
they want to stop legal competition.

Do we really want to stop new business models to support an old business
model that as become obsolete?

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.