This month has seen the French government continue to try and push through the controversial ‘three strikes’ file sharing law. The law aims to coerce internet service providers into monitoring their customer’s internet usage to check for signs of copyright infringement. If anyone is suspected of illegally downloading pirated material on the internet then they will be sent a letter reminding them that they have broken the law. If they continue to illegally download then they will receive two more letters, the last of which will inform them that they have been suspended from the internet for up to a year and their internet connection has been cut off.

This month has also seen the creators of the world’s biggest bit torrent tracker, Pirate Bay, sentenced to a year in prison and forced to pay a fine of over 2.5 million euros. After two years of building legal pressure from a consortium of media and entertainment companies the sentencing represents yet another feeble attempt to stamp authority on an uncontrollable ‘problem’. The result, like usual, is that nothing has happened: People are still illegally downloading and, in what must feel like a kick in the teeth for the prosecutors, Pirate Bay has continued to stay in service.

When will governments and the music industry see that they are fighting an impossible fight! The democratisation of the internet means that they are not just fighting a few key perpetrators but instead squaring up to anyone and everyone who has an internet connection. Instead of concentrating on trying to dam an ocean, they need to be spending their time working out ways to work alongside this phenomena and use it their advantage.

Big file sharing sites and torrent trackers could be used as highly effective marketing channels. The people who are downloading music aren’t criminals, in fact they’re usually huge music fans and exactly the people who record companies should be targeting; connecting with, building relationships with, introducing to other fans, making them obsessed with their artist and then getting them to come to gigs, buy the artist’s merchandise, spend more money on limited edition releases, purchase souvenirs and enter into a long term beneficial interactions.

Times have changed and the music industry has to realise that its never going to revert back to how it was. They have to embrace change and change themselves, not enter into a war against their own customers!

Check out this article which describes piracy as a litmus test for authentic culture