So, we've heard from various quarters of the music community and from the big internet service providers, but what does the consumer rights lobby think about the government's latest proposals for tackling online piracy? There's normally one body or another claiming to represent consumers keen to express an opinion in this domain.
Oh yes, look, here's one know. It's Consumer Focus, who were possibly still called the National Consumer Council the last time they guested here in the CMU Daily. They reckon that the government should be spending less time putting in place laws to force ISPs to restrict or suspend the net access of persistent file-sharers and instead instigate a complete review of the British copyright system, I think with a view to introducing a whole load of new blanket licensing rules to simplify the process for new entrants into the digital market to secure music content.
In a statement released yesterday, as the government's consultation on this issue came to a close, the consumer body said: "Consumer Focus is calling on the government to refocus its position from looking at internet account suspension and other technical measures to reduce file-sharing and update the copyright licensing system so that copyrighted works can be more easily commercially exploited online".
The body's Jill Johnstone added: "We need to be talking about solutions, not about slowing down people's broadband. Most people would happily pay a reasonable price for music they enjoy, but little is being done to take this forward. Consumers still have limited choice when it comes to online content. There is huge potential for our creative industries to take advantage of the online market, but reform of the copyright licensing system is needed to support this".
She has a point. I mean, come on music industry, give consumers a bit of choice will you? I mean, where can people go for digital music other than iTunes? And Amazon. And 7Digital. And Beatport. And Bleep.com. And HMV.com. And eMusic. And Napster. And Spotify. And Last.fm. And We7. And MySpace. And Imeem. And YouTube. And MUZU. And Orange's Monkey Music. And Nokia's Comes With Music. And Vodafone's MusicStation. And the BBC iPlayer. Oh, so actually quite a lot of choice then.
To be fair, the people behind these digital music services would probably welcome any change in the copyright system that would enable them to more easily licence music, especially if it meant more multi-territory licences. And there is lots about British copyright law - most of which pre-dates the internet - that could do with a serious overhaul. But I think that the once valid argument used by those who oppose new anti-P2P legislation that the music industry has failed to provide consumers with any compelling legit music services now sounds as silly as when record companies claim that P2P file-sharing has deprived them of billions of dollars in income.
True, it may still be a valid argument when applied to the film and TV industries, and that may be part of what Consumer Focus is getting at. But the music industry - for all its sins - has made significant moves in the provision of decent digital music services in recent years. And while there may still be much more to be done, record companies and music publishers should probably do more to big up the different services in which they are involved, to counter arguments from the net and consumer rights lobbies that the music corporates are still sitting on their asses moaning about file-sharing while doing nothing to adapt to the digital world.