GARRISON’S BLOG » P2P Piracy

Music Biz Woes Traced to Town of Digby

Garrison Lykam — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 18:50:46 +0000

In his RIAA blog post, Research Veep Joshua P. Friedlander  recounts the Sonia Levitin children’s story “Nobody Stole the Pie” about how the citizens of Digby each asserted that it was “Not I” who stole the giant annual lollyberry pie after each had picked away at it bit by bit. Friedlander’s take on the impact of piracy on the decline of the music business is “A little bit, a little bit, a little bit won’t hurt.”  However, at the rate of 4 out of 5 downloads in the U.S. being illegal P2P and other unauthorized services, 80% of the online pie slices are stolen.

Over a 10-year period, the music industry here in the States has fallen from approximately $15 billion annually to $8.5 billion. And, the digital marketplace has had a two-pronged impact. On the one hand, its helped offset the decline in physical sales, especially with the reduction in illegal P2P traffic. However, almost 4 out of 5 digital music downloads in the U.S. are via P2P and other unauthorized services. The impact of so many people eating a piece of the online lollyberry pie has done its damage to the music industry’s fiscal digestion.

According to SoundScan, the top 10 albums in 2009 sold a total of 21 million copies, and the top 10 tracks totaled 36 million paid downloads. But the top 10 albums in 1999 totaled 55 million in sales. Even with digital track sales factored in, those top sellers fell by more than 50%.

But, the impact goes far beyond number of units and downloads. During the same decade, domestic record company employees have dropped precipitously from about 25,000 people in 1999 to less than 10,000 today. More than half of these employees directly influenced the creation and development of new music. So, to those illegal downloaders stealing artists’ and record labels’ slices of the royalty pie so they can extend their self-perpetuated sense of entitlement beyond mommy buying them cars, condos and college educations, grow up. Stealing is stealing and if you think doing it is cool you’re not only a thief but an idiot. And don’t hand me that pathetic line like a young adult in his almost thirties did: “Hey, U2’s got enough money.” You want pie? Pay for it. Mommy’s kitchen is closed.

“Doing what kids do” is B.S.

Garrison Lykam — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:14:21 +0000

The problem with illegal downloading is that there are too many young adults who want to use it as a surrogate parent to get what they want without paying for it. Yes, I’m on my soapbox again. I am an advocate of every indie artist out there trying to grow their musical passion into a legitimate business for which they are entitled to get paid and they’re getting ripped off by the very peers who claim to love their music but who are enjoying it without paying for it. When I hear about a Boston attorney defending a grad student’s Kazaa file-sharing on the basis that he was “a kid who did what kids do” (Investor’s Business Daily, 7/29/’09), I say ‘bullshit.’ Like the young ‘adult’ I encountered who ripped off U2 music with the lame excuse that U2 has enough money, Joel Tenebaum ripped off Green Day and Aerosmith with the same flippant Internet shoplifting attitude. And, when you steal from indie artists who don’t have near the money of their major counterparts and are trying to make back and possibly even profit from their music I am lit with the arrogance of not just the people doing the ripping off but of Harvard Law School Professor Charles Nesson for condoning it. So that the subset of self-designated “entitleds” get it, let’s pool their paychecks into a fund for songwriters, performers, backup singers, sound engineers, producers and others involved in the creation of music and see how ‘cool’ the reverse experience feels. Start paying for the music that artists are busting their asses and their wallets to create. And, please, leave your arrogance about everything you know about music at home. I don’t respect your boasting about an artist’s music when you’re picking their pockets at the same time to get it.

I was talking with an indie film producer who spoke to me about the number of illegally-downloaded versions of his latest production that had occurred and how he could no longer fund his own films if people kept stealing his royalties. I was reminded of a guy who paid $250 for his iTV and then bragged about not having paid for the films he had stored on it. You get the point, pathetic as it is.

In this corner…Hans Pandeya

Garrison Lykam — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 01:12:19 +0000

In an article in WSJ (7/29/’09) by Sarah McBride (“Studios Sue to Stop Pirate Bay”), the major Hollywood studios are requesting that a Swedish civil court impose an injunction against the operators of Pirate Bay (in the process of being sold to Global Gaming Factory X AB as of August 27th) to stop both its operators and its ISP “from making copyrighted movies and TV shows easily available on the Internet” together with an undisclosed fine. The studios hope to build on their success earlier this year in criminal court against Pirate Bay’s aiding copyright infringement.

I’m holding my breath with a sarcastic “yeah, I’ll believe it when I see it” at Global Gaming’s Hans Pandeya telling the major records labels and studios that he wants to transform Pirate Bay into a legal site paying copyright owners for user-shared media. Until proven otherwise, on the tails of a Swedish court sentencing the Pirate Bay crooks to prison time and three million dollars, Pandeya brings back memories of the professional wrestler offering an apologetic handshake at center ring with a blunt object hidden behind his back. Come on, Pandeya, are you telling me you bought Pirate Bay with an altrusitic business model in mind? Where did Global Gaming’s Wayne Rosso’s confidence go about the plans to bring Pirate Bay to fruition that led him to walk?

Swedish Court Decision Erases Retrial Attempt

Garrison Lykam — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:37:52 +0000

The Swedish court removed all concerns that Pirate Bay trial judge Norstrom was biased because of his affiliations with pro-copyright organizations, a charge the defendants made against him in their request for a retrial. The Swedish court, led by Judge Eka (who does not preside over copyright-related trials), was emphatically unanimous, basing their decision on such affiliations being necessary to keeping up with what’s going on in the industry. The outcome of the first trial can still be appealed, but to paraphrase Lloyd, “No retrial, cannot, triple stamped it, no erasies, touch blue make it true.”

P2Peeved

Garrison Lykam — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 23:23:23 +0000

Pending what could be a lengthy appeal, at least the recent guilty verdict issued in the Pirate Bay case by a Swedish court is a sign that action is being taken against P2P piracy, including precedent-setting jail time (the longest levied under Swedish copyright law) for the administrators of the site. If France can get its “three strikes” legislation through and the UK can achieve its goal of cutting illegal downloading by 70%-80% by 2011 we’ll have made even more strides to implement anti-piracy legislation and protect the copyrights of artists. The key is to do so in such way that individuals’ basic freedom to communicate on the Internet is not compromised. I am a staunch proponent of protecting copyright owners’ rights to receive remuneration from their creative works. I was appalled recently to overhear a young man declare in public after admitting to illegally downloading U2 tunes, “Sure I did. They won’t miss the money.” I wonder how this person would have responded to someone stealing his paycheck! There was a self-centered arrogance in his feigned attempt to be cool and and to get away with not paying for the songs. What was much more evident was his very un-cool regard for the people who wrote, performed and recorded those songs. Stealing artists’ income is not cool.