the EFF "solves" p2p...

Derek points to the EFF's new plan to solve the filesharing dilema. I'm going to go out on a limb here and predict that the music industry's reaction will be lukewarm to ice cold. At least if this is most of the pitch I don't find it convincing from the point of view of a recording executive (Fred from the EFF will be introducing it at the Future of Music Summit... he'll probably say a lot more than what's in this document there).

Why will this be ignored by the music industry? Because of this:

What about file sharers who won't pay?

The vast majority of file sharers are willing to pay a reasonable fee for the freedom to download whatever they like, using whatever software suits them. In addition to those who would opt to take a license if given the opportunity, many more will likely have their license fees paid by intermediaries, like ISPs, universities, and software vendors.

So long as the fee is reasonable, effectively invisible to fans, and does not restrict their freedom, the vast majority of file sharers will opt to pay rather than engage in complex evasion efforts. So long as "free-riding" can be limited to a relatively small percentage of file sharers, it should not pose a serious risk to a collective licensing system. After all, today artists and copyright owners are paid nothing for file sharing -- it should be easy to do much better than that with a collective licensing system. Copyright holders (and perhaps the collecting society itself) would continue to be entitled to enforce their rights against "free-loaders." Instead of threatening them with ruinous damages, however, the collecting society can offer stragglers the opportunity to pay a fine and get legal. This is exactly what collecting societies like ASCAP do today.

When you couple this relatively vague and unclear payment mechanism with the fact that there won't be a one-to-one accounting for all material downloaded, you get something that the music industry will not even take a second look at. As the Grey Album debacle has recently shown once again, the music industry is unhappy with anything less than total control of their IP.

I hope I'm wrong and that a label or two will initiate dialogue (you'd think that any revenue would be good revenue at this point for these guys)... it is a great idea grounded in precedent. I'd happily pay.
Posted by joebeone at Febrero 25, 2004 12:00 AM