On Wed, 24 Oct 2001, Bryan Moss wrote:
> Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
>
> > > So it's a little too soon to assume that the music
> > > industry as we know it is a corpse.
> >
> > While this author's explanations aren't very rigorous (which
> > is to be expected for public-consumption prose), the basic
> > facts are hard to avoid. Any industry that currently
> > _relies_ on the excludability of content is on its deathbed.
> > Encryption may provide a few last gasps, but it cannot solve
> > the basic problem (for those who see it as a problem :-)
>
> I think obscurity is a better bet than encryption. Music and
> other linear media are very easily captured and any attempts
> at anti-piracy will inevitably fail. It only takes one kid
> working at a music store who has the technical know-how to
> redistribute all the newest releases throughout the Internet.
> This already happens with software. However, after the
> illicit copies are out there, the average music buyer needs to
> be aware of them and be able to download them. At the moment
> it's easier to get music from a P2P application than a
> legitimate source, this needn't be the case. With micro-
> payments it should be possible to not only sell legitimate
> digital copies but pay commission for referrals, just as
> Amazon does with its affiliates program, thus giving an
> incentive to websites to refer people to legitimate retailers.
> Ultimately, the entire experience - from discovering a new
> artist, to finding the particularly song you want, to
> purchasing it - will be controlled by a string of cooperating
> middlemen. The Internet gives far greater control over the
> whole process of promoting and selling an artist; it shouldn't
> be too hard to make sure that the majority of consumers are
> both unaware of illicit methods of obtaining digital media and
> would prefer the "genuine" version anyway.
Yes, exactly. That is indeed one of the business models of
the age of free content. And there are many more...
-- Lee Daniel Crocker <lee@piclab.com> <http://www.piclab.com/lee/> "All inventions or works of authorship original to me, herein and past, are placed irrevocably in the public domain, and may be used or modified for any purpose, without permission, attribution, or notification."--LDC
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