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Published: Sep 16, 2005 01:41 PM
Sat - June 28, 2003
Making Love, Not War, Would Be Music To Their Ears
The RIAA announced this week it will
begin suing P2P file swappers. Here's my personal view of what the music
industry should also be doing to embrace music consumers and encourage respect
for copyright.
The
RIAA
raised eyebrows this week by announcing in widely published newspaper
advertisements that it would begin
suing people who swap music on peer
to peer networks. Litigation is a valid
strategy, but in my opinion, if the music business wants to win back young
customers who account for most music sales in this country, it must fight a
public relations war first. For every college student convicted of copyright
theft, the RIAA creates not only legal precedent but an empathetic victim with
whom other consumers can identify.
Along with wielding its clout, here are some other things the music industry could do to win consumers' cooperation and respect:
1. Listen. Send industry executives and well-known artists to America's college campuses for a series of well-publicized, televised (MTV?) town meetings to discuss music piracy and to make the case for respecting copyrights. Listen as much as you talk at these meetings. Use what you learn to adapt your public relations efforts and your business models. Give free CDs and anti-piracy t-shirts to all attendees as they enter the meeting place; they may wear their shirts during the broadcast.
2. Reach out. Sponsor a concert tour—the equivalent of an "Us Festival"—for music fans in key markets and populate it with top talent. Give the proceeds to music education departments and to fund music grants or scholarships for promising new artists. Establish a web site to teach consumers about copyright law and to field their suggestions for the music industry. Organize live internet chats, radio interviews, and streamed performances by leading artists to draw an audience for the web site. Get interactive: Invite the American Idol finalists and contestants to blog about the importance of respecting music copyrights.
3. Promote. Generate buzz for new singles by releasing them without copyright protection as internet-only exclusives. Encourage traditional CD sales by staging radio interview tours and meet-the-artist jam sessions at music stores by the performers whose work has been released in the form of internet singles. Play up the softer side of the music industry with advertisements celebrating the industry's many contributions to American culture.
4. Forgive. Establish a guilty conscience abatement fund through which former music pirates may make restitution by anonymously donating to their favorite artists through PayPal or Yahoo! Paydirect. Do not use payment records as a means for prosecuting contributors.
5. Embrace. If the music industry believes that online distribution will cannibalize traditional CD sales channels, it could implement points programs that use online music purchases as a basis for securing discounts or exclusive offers on in-store CD sales, or it could release music primarily on DVDs that feature exclusive artist interviews and other value-added content to make them more attractive to consumers.
6. Adopt. Why should modern music stores consist of endless CD racks anyway? Promote the adoption of new in-store technologies for printing CD covers and for burning CDs with musical content to suit customers' tastes. Given the choice between downloading thousands of low-quality songs on Kazaa or obtaining the same songs legally and more conveniently at a local music store or on-campus music kiosk, many consumers would choose the latter.
Update: Some musical artists apparently embrace these sentiments. They have petitioned the RIAA to crease prosecuting music lovers on their behalf. Thanks to Lawrence Lessig for the link.
Along with wielding its clout, here are some other things the music industry could do to win consumers' cooperation and respect:
1. Listen. Send industry executives and well-known artists to America's college campuses for a series of well-publicized, televised (MTV?) town meetings to discuss music piracy and to make the case for respecting copyrights. Listen as much as you talk at these meetings. Use what you learn to adapt your public relations efforts and your business models. Give free CDs and anti-piracy t-shirts to all attendees as they enter the meeting place; they may wear their shirts during the broadcast.
2. Reach out. Sponsor a concert tour—the equivalent of an "Us Festival"—for music fans in key markets and populate it with top talent. Give the proceeds to music education departments and to fund music grants or scholarships for promising new artists. Establish a web site to teach consumers about copyright law and to field their suggestions for the music industry. Organize live internet chats, radio interviews, and streamed performances by leading artists to draw an audience for the web site. Get interactive: Invite the American Idol finalists and contestants to blog about the importance of respecting music copyrights.
3. Promote. Generate buzz for new singles by releasing them without copyright protection as internet-only exclusives. Encourage traditional CD sales by staging radio interview tours and meet-the-artist jam sessions at music stores by the performers whose work has been released in the form of internet singles. Play up the softer side of the music industry with advertisements celebrating the industry's many contributions to American culture.
4. Forgive. Establish a guilty conscience abatement fund through which former music pirates may make restitution by anonymously donating to their favorite artists through PayPal or Yahoo! Paydirect. Do not use payment records as a means for prosecuting contributors.
5. Embrace. If the music industry believes that online distribution will cannibalize traditional CD sales channels, it could implement points programs that use online music purchases as a basis for securing discounts or exclusive offers on in-store CD sales, or it could release music primarily on DVDs that feature exclusive artist interviews and other value-added content to make them more attractive to consumers.
6. Adopt. Why should modern music stores consist of endless CD racks anyway? Promote the adoption of new in-store technologies for printing CD covers and for burning CDs with musical content to suit customers' tastes. Given the choice between downloading thousands of low-quality songs on Kazaa or obtaining the same songs legally and more conveniently at a local music store or on-campus music kiosk, many consumers would choose the latter.
Update: Some musical artists apparently embrace these sentiments. They have petitioned the RIAA to crease prosecuting music lovers on their behalf. Thanks to Lawrence Lessig for the link.