The third in a series of posts on the state of the RIAA file sharing trials and digital music industry (cross-posted at http://www.gwcyberlaw.org):
As part of the series of posts leading up to our Friday discussion on the RIAA file sharing trials, here is some food for thought.
How big of a problem is piracy? Is it as bad as the RIAA and record companies claim? Is it killing music and preventing artists from making a living? Not all artists agree.
Many decry piracy and vehemently agree with the position of the RIAA. Others, such as Radiohead, seem to find some value in sharing music – usually as a promotional tool. Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien explains some of his views inan article at TorrentFreak:
O’Brien is no stranger when it comes to piracy. “There’s a very strong part of me that feels that peer-to-peer illegal downloading is just a more sophisticated version of what we did in the 80s, which was home taping,” he said, something the music industry strongly discouraged at the time.
“I have a problem about it when people in the industry say ‘it’s killing the industry’, it’s the thing that’s ripping us apart’,” O’Brien said, adding: “I don’t believe it actually is.”
Do you believe piracy is “killing the music industry”? If not is it beneficial or just a non-fatal harm?
