This month the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide MGM vs. Grokster, the case that could determine whether or not a peer-to-peer (P2P) company can be held liable for illegal activity on its network. The decision is key, but the future is also being shaped by the marketplace. The digitization of content and the ability to share it quickly and easily has shaken Hollywood up in a big way. The music industry, in particular, seemed to have been taken completely off guard.
I would like to add some nuance to Sonia Arrison's statement about Mercora, "Mercora pays a royalty to the copyright holder each time the song is played, just like a regular radio station." The part about regular radio station is correct but it is little known that radio stations only pay the songwriter portion of songs and nothing at all to the performer or the label which is a separate and distinct copyright. The songwriter share is very small compared to the label/performance rights shares so I'm guessing Mercora's business model could possibly be more legal loophole innovation than technical innovation. I would take your reticence for legislation and hope for wise legislation since the definition of what is "radio" and whether the internet is "radio" is a matter of legislative debate and definition. Thank you for the good debating points about the importance of balance of cultural "commons" and balancing of rights holders. One final thought, you are correct to worry about technical product innovations and the capital investments needed but don't underestimate the investment decisions that are needed to create a pop song or a movie. Ultimately a wonderful distribution system with no incentive to create wonderful moving content is doomed. Conversly, wonderful locked content with limited distribution options is unbalanced also. Sincerely, Tom Laskey (musician)
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Making P2P a Capitalist Tool
Posted by: Sonia Arrison June 24, 2005 05:00 AMThis month the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide MGM vs. Grokster, the case that could determine whether or not a peer-to-peer (P2P) company can be held liable for illegal activity on its network. The decision is key, but the future is also being shaped by the marketplace. The digitization of content and the ability to share it quickly and easily has shaken Hollywood up in a big way. The music industry, in particular, seemed to have been taken completely off guard.
I would take your reticence for legislation and hope for wise legislation since the definition of what is "radio" and whether the internet is "radio" is a matter of legislative debate and definition.
Thank you for the good debating points about the importance of balance of cultural "commons" and balancing of rights holders.
One final thought, you are correct to worry about technical product innovations and the capital investments needed but don't underestimate the investment decisions that are needed to create a pop song or a movie.
Ultimately a wonderful distribution system with no incentive to create wonderful moving content is doomed. Conversly, wonderful locked content with limited distribution options is unbalanced also.
Sincerely, Tom Laskey (musician)