The Logic Off Topic list

Joeri said:

>10% is the percentage piracy in the real world in Western countries.

I think the number is not so easy to measure that anyone can be so 
confident as to exactly what it is.  I also don't agree that it will 
be possible to keep it down in that range no matter what is tried. 
Especially as broadband becomes more popular. Of course I am not so 
much talking about piracy for profit, which I think will be somewhat 
controllable because that kind of piracy requires some type of 
marketing and money exchange, but rather I am speaking of sharing and 
trading between individuals which will only become more rampant and 
more difficult to control.


>  >Seems to me that the 'problem' with mp3 is not protecting the rights of
>>authors, but rather the claim of record companies that they and they alone
>>can adequately protect the rights of music creators. This seems to me to be
>>an extremely dubious claim to say the least, because there are other
>>methods of distributing music.
>>
>I don't agree. As a matter of fact, I'm currently writing my thesis on
>"Future Growth Strategies in the Music Business", and I'm writing that
>from a "majors" perspective.


>We have to make people understand why music can't be free and we have to
>come up with models that make "music" an enjoyable product that's worth
>paying for.

Yes but how do you make them understand that when from their it can 
be, and in fact *is* free.

>No offense, but this concept is too simple. A visit to a to any school
>will show e.g. that 1 in 10 or 1 in 20 buys the music and the others
>copy it.

This is the basis for my statement above.  I don't see where your 10% 
is the piracy figure has it's basis.  People under 30 spend a larger 
fraction of their income on music than any other group and people 
under under 24 or 25 even more still and those are the very people 
that are likely to be "sharing".  I don't see how that is ever going 
to get under control.  Sharing is now easier than ever and is not 
going to become more difficult.