IllegalDownloading
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Editorial: RIAA takedown requests and ad complaints are missing an opportunity
As noted here, the RIAA has issued 10 million takedown requests to Google in an attempt to close off paths to sites that facilitate music downloading. At the same time, a related phenomenon is fueling the fire of rightsholder outrage: Brand advertising that appears on download sites and generates revenue for those businesses. These two aspects of the internet's ecosystem -- finding free music downloads through search engines, and ad-supported sites expediting illicit music acquisition -- represent deeply rooted challenges to media owners. At the same time, as with most challenges, there is a flip side of opportunity. The difference between capitalizing on an opportunity and being defeated by its challenge is the difference between getting in front of reality and falling behind it. The RIAA is regarded by many as the poster organization for denial of reality. A reversal of strategy and tactics might get big media owners in front of 21st century realities.
RIAA declares music piracy "contained"
If we're to believe RIAA CEO Mitch Bainwol's take on the current state of digital piracy, it would appear that enough consumers have been swayed by the music industry's carrot-and-stick approach of cheap songs and highly-publicized lawsuits that illegal downloading, although not eliminated, has finally been "contained." Even though physical album sales are still declining, Bainwol claims that the rapid growth of legal digital downloads -- up 77% in the past year -- balance out the loss, proving that iTunes, Napster, Rhapsody, and the like are offering compelling services that have encouraged folks to give up their lives of crime. Bainwol certainly paints a rosy picture here, and while we'd love to imagine that our fellow Netizens have suddenly and inexplicably developed a group conscience, what seems much more likely is that higher bandwidth and the advent of the torrent have simply turned former music pirates from the RIAA's nightmare into the MPAA's.
