It is a dangerous thing when a for-profit entity is challenging some of the most fundamental individual rights of citizens. The right to privacy and the right to free speech are cornerstones of our society and it makes me extremely nervous when a company wishes to infringe on those rights for the purposes of increasing its own profits.
I have to admit that during Napsters’ heyday I was a registered member and spent a few hours a week perusing the lists and picking out a few songs here and there. Mostly I went looking for novelty and parody bits that I had heard once long ago and never expected to see in a record store. No harm no foul.
But with the recent efforts by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) file swapping has become an issue of far reaching political and economic importance and one that everyone who listens to music, watches movies or uses the Internet needs to take a moment to consider.
When the trial began against the founders of Napster I think many of us who had some basic notion of the value of intellectual property had to feel that there was a certain merit in the charges. Here was a company that was providing access to thousands of copyrighted songs, movies, and software titles. Naturally the copyright holders had a certain legal right to be upset about this. I would compare it loosely someone building a new bar adjacent to an established one and telling the whole world that if they brought their own cup and a keg tap they could drink all they wanted from the bar next door. The owners of the original bar would be a tad upset.
At this point its important to note the difficulties encountered when dealing with intellectual property as opposed to physical property. I like the comparison above, but it has to be used carefully because any physical property will eventually be used up. Intellectual property on the other hand cannot be diminished or consumed. It exists forever in its original state and can only be enhanced, never destroyed. This is even more true since the widespread use of the Internet came into vouge. Once its out there folks, it can’t be brought back.
Which is what makes the whole situation between the RIAA and its arch nemesis the file swappers so touchy. While I had a certain degree of reluctant sympathy with the music industry during the Napster trial they have since used up any good will they may have gained from it. Their current pursuit of individual file swappers shows that they are far more interested in being a political force than they are in making money in a sustainable way.
The argument by the RIAA is that file swappers are costing their members, the record companies, money because they are giving away something for free that actually belongs to the companies. This is a fair argument and one that most people can understand once they look at it for a moment. But consumers over the last few years have become more and more disillusioned with the corporate model that the RIAA represents. Rather than embracing the Internet as a marketing and sales tool, the RIAA has decided to make enemies of virtually everyone who uses the Internet. By issuing supoenas and attempting to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with the names of the file swappers the RIAA has succeeded in putting fear into a good portion of the demographic they should be targeting for sales. This would be roughly akin to the police demanding that Ford pony up the names of everyone who got caught speeding while in a Ford so they could have their liscences suspended. Sure Ford could do it with enough research and money spent, but they would alienate their own customer base not to mention open themselves up to a raft of liability issues.
So what could the RIAA have done? I should point out my own bias before making any suggestions on this one. I believe in the artists right to profit from their own effort and creativity. One of the biggest strikes against the RIAA in the public eye is that they do not represent the artists. They represent the companies who own the artists. And yes, I use the word own in a very literal sense. The RIAA is, therefore, not a group that I feel needs to exist. They are a political lobby and nothing else. Having said that, I think the RIAA needs to immediately withdraw from its current course of action and instead devote itself to finding online marketing strategies that will turn a profit. By its own research, the RIAA has shown that there is a huge population out there who are perfectly happy getting digital music off the Internet. It should be a small feat for a group with the massive resources that the RIAA has to find a way to dip into the pockets of that population rather than trying to send them to jail. I seem to recall that when Microsoft faced a threat from Netscape they solved the problem by undercutting them and releasing Internet Explorer for free. Now, I am not suggesting that the RIAA offer free music. That would be counter to their mission. But if they were to offer a sample free, say one song from each new release, and then sell the rest of the album on a per track basis they should be able to turn a tidy profit. This is compunded by the fact that selling music online involves a mere fraction of the overhead expense of traditional retailers. If the record companies moved ten percent of their business online their profit margin would increase. But I believe the solution to this problem is a bit more deep rooted than that. The media industry in America has become dangerously homogenous. I have spoken only of music in this article, but the same concerns can be raised about movies, TV, print media, and radio. All of these industries are being merged into a few very large companies who are gaining the political power to force devastating changes in our society. The solution to the problem is to move away from those conglomerates as much as possible. Support independant musicians and filmmakers. Listen to independant radio. Read your locally owned newspaper.
The premise of the RIAA’s argument is that they cannot be profitable as long as file swapping occurs. I would suggest to them that they stop trying to make it a political and legal issue and treat it as the econimic issue it truly is. In a country where a 19 year old could start the file swapping revolution with software he wrote for a class project, surely the members of the RIAA can find a way to make a few bucks off of the same crowd that gladly plunks down $50 to download the latest video game.
