U2 manager Paul McGuinness has made another speech calling on those there internet service providers to take action to stop the illegal distribution of music on the old world wide web.
As previously reported, McGuiness began the year by making a headline grabbing keynote speech at music convention MIDEM accusing the ISPs of failing to do their bit in building the digital music market by refusing to get involved in the campaign to curb online piracy. That speech added momentum to the record industry’s attempts to persuade and, maybe, force the ISPs, through government intervention, to take on a proactive role in policing illegal file sharing – something that seems to have become a top priority of those within the record industry charged with the task of fighting P2P. The ISPS, in the main, are not keen to take on such a role.
McGuinness returned to the topic during a key note speech at the Hong Kong music conference Music Matters yesterday. Perhaps in a slightly more conciliatory mood than during his MIDEM presentation, he admitted that he recognises that "a real commercial partnership" between the ISPs and the music business is required for the digital music market to prosper, but added that the ISPs need to do more for that partnership to work, both in tackling the continued illegal distribution of music online, and in sharing the income they generate through music based services.
He told the conference: "Privately negotiated revenue-sharing partnerships are, I believe, a key model for the future. One way or another, ISPs and mobile operators are the business partners of the future for the recorded-music business. But they are going to have to share the money in a way that reflects what music is doing for their business". In a bid to illustrate that that is not currently the case McGuiness took a local example, claiming that "China Mobile makes hundreds of millions of dollars each year from sales of ringtones and ringback tones, yet pays a minuscule fraction of that to performers, producers and composers. That to me is not a fair business partnership".
Since McGuinness' MIDEM speech the British government has indicated that if the ISPs will not voluntarily take on a more proactive role in policing P2P they may introduce new laws that forces them to – maybe even legislating to introduce a three strike system where illegal file sharers receive two warnings and then have their net connection cut off. Music industry types seem split on the merits of government intervention – some, frustrated at the failure of talks with ISPs to reach any conclusion to date, see the possibility of legislation in the area as the light at the end of the tunnel. Others reckon a voluntary solution between the two industries is still possible and much more desirable.
McGuinness welcomed moves by the British and other governments (France in particular) in this domain and, according to Billboard, told a press briefing after his keynote: "Progress depends on national governments. I would like to see the workers [artists] paid, which they aren't at the moment".
Concluding with a few words for those who say the traditional copyright owners are the problem in the growth of the net, McGuinness said: "The music business once had to bear the accusation that it was full of dinosaurs who looked back to an old business model rather than embracing a new one. Today, though, it is the music business that is charting the way to the future. If there are dinosaurs around today, I think they are the internet free-thinkers of the past who believe that copyright is the great obstacle to progress, that the distributors of content should enjoy profits without responsibilities and that the creators and producers of music should simply subordinate their rights to the rights of everyone else. We have not reversed the troubles of the music industry yet - but at least the dinosaurs are no longer running the show".