According to Prefix and Gizmodo, some record labels are paying students to spy on other students who pirate music. EMI, Sony, Universal and Warner are reportedly pumping money into an anti-piracy group, proMedia, in this only purpose, using students to denounce their peers doing the bad and illegal thing: stealing music online!
According to some sources, the company employs 35 students (this seems really impressive!) who are then supposed to browse forums, blogs and file hosting sites to find people pirating music. They are also supposed to track down students who use P2P networks and BitTorrents, and what is supposed to happen if they catch them? Caught 'thieves' will have to pay thousands of dollars per offense to record labels.
This is so wrong for so many reasons, first, encouraging denunciation of your own peers, reminds me about the worst stories of traitors during war world II. And the worst in this story is that we are talking about the biggest labels doing such a thing, the ones which are already robbing their artists anyway! I just wonder how much these students are paid and how pleasant their future social life will be…
I know someone who runs an independent label and he thinks all music will eventually become free, there’s nothing you can do about the current tendency! Let’s face it, most young people download their music without paying through peer-to-peer networks or torrents (The Pirate Bay is the 71st most visited website in the world!), illegal downloading is on the rise, and Google makes it just too easy! It is just today’s reality and that’s why services like Spotify appeared, as an attempt from labels to recover some money (but as we know artists are paid pennies by Spotify!)
If this mercenary tactic is the only response that big labels can try, they are doomed! A very large number of illegal P2P servers are hosted outside the US and America laws do not apply there, they are not ready to be shut down and illegal downloading will continue. But his last move shows how much big labels are desperate, and if they have to hunt people one by one like this, well good luck!
One last comment before I go. While there are two cases of individuals who were convicted of illegal downloading in 2007 still pending, the “labels” are no longer targeting individuals, but rather international companies like MegaUpload.
Operators of these sites are actually going to jail; musicians, filmmakers and authors around the world are calling out for change. Unauthorized file sharing will never be eradicated, but the tide is turning and if music is important to you, you should applaud that.
http://torrentfreak.com/download-site-founder-receives-4-5-year-jail-sentence-forfeits-4-7m-120615/
http://www.worldcrunch.com/where-theres-no-such-thing-illegal-download/5513
I just took another look at Alyson’s post. I believe her problem is not with stopping illegal file sharing but with paying students to rat out other students. As Matt Dillon put it in “Over The Edge”: “Any kid who snitches on another kid is a dead kid”. However, I do not approve of file sharing, I don’t do it and I consider it theft. I am co-editor not co-censor and Alyson is free to hold a conflicting opinion. None of which helps the record business. Certainly jailing the proprietors of MegaUpload is a much better idea than turning students into Republicans. -Iman
Iman, thank you for your response. Perhaps, I’ve had too much coffee, but I’m totally confused. Honestly, I don’t know where to start. The writer of the article appears to support illegal downloading and you refer to it as theft, so I’m confused. Actually, I think places like Pbay are in the fencing business. They take priceless jewels and sell them for practically nothing. Spotify’s the same, only they pay pennies on the dollar.
Now, I’ll let you know right away, FarePlay is not a fan of Spotify, but your author’s claim that Spotify is a creation of the record labels, demonstrates that she basically has no idea what she is talking about. Is their relationship with Spotify questionable, absolutely. It was a deal with the devil. We, Spotify, will create a business that will decimate your revenue, but in return we will “give” you 20% of our business to make that deal.
Now, we have hardcore Emily that is indignant to even pay pennies on the dollar for other people’s work. Yes, Emily it is work, they aren’t all rich, few can make money from touring, the t-shirt business isn’t that great, etc., etc.
And yes Iman, Lars was an arrogant, nasty, rich guy, who poisoned the well for other musicians to step forward and say, “Hey guys, I’m just trying to make a living and survive.”
Forever free is not sustainable for any business. even yours.
yes, as Iman said, I had a problem with labels paying students to denounce other students, that was what the post was about.
More than supporting downloading, I was saying that it is way too easy right now to do it. Just google any album, you’ll get many possibilities, so you are not going to change the mentalities by saying to people ‘you are a thief, stop doing this!’ As I said, my friend (who runs a label) told me that only 5% of the youth is paying for music now! This is the sad reality, but unavoidable seeing how easy it is to get an album on line for free.
And regarding Spotify, even though it was not founded by labels, it has signed licensing deals with the big music labels, so basically it was a way for them to get some of the money back. And again, whether we like Spotify or not, whether we think it is bad for the music industry, it is the same story: Spotify is unavoidable, this is how the future generation will listen to music, they already do it, and this is particularly bad news for artists who get about nothing…This means the music industry is doomed?
You are too optimistic Alyson, the new generation won’t even pay $5 or $10 a month, they will use a variant on youtube and pay nothing… Iman