File sharing is not theft.

Technology giveth and technology taketh away.

Remember when dual-cassette decks were all the rage? What you might not remember is that just before these devices became popular, the music industry was very concerned about the potential impact on pre-recorded cassette sales…until they realized that the future was in Compact Discs. Indeed, CDs were just starting to rise in popularity when the dual-cassette recorders became a standard fixture in boomboxes and stereos across the nation. So the music industry didn't really care if you borrowed your friend's Steely Dan cassette and helped yourself to a copy. The industry was well aware that an analog dub would be sonically inferior to the original tape, so they weren't too worried.

Now the technology exists to make a virtually identical copy of any CD. So I can have a copy of my friend's AC/DC CD without paying for it. How can this be considered theft? My friend lent me the thing, and I copied it. That's what friends are for!

Now say my "friend" lives in Iceland, and he has the latest Bjork CD, and I want a copy of it (don't ask why). File sharing makes this possible, using the Internet. But is it theft? Of course not, it's the same damn thing! What if it's not really my friend? What if (shudders!) I NEVER MET THE PERSON BEFORE IN MY LIFE…but I can still access their music database and download a copy of, say, Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run"? Should we both be locked up? I think not. But according to many in the music industry, this is a very, very bad thing.

Well, as a businessperson, anything that adversely affects my profits, either real or potential, is a very, very bad thing. And that's the deal with file sharing as we know it.

The real fact of the matter is this: CDs are too damn expensive. You can buy a blank CD for about 50 cents, and you can buy an artist's biography for about $12, so why in hell should the pre-recorded CD cost 20 bucks?

Let me make myself even clearer here. I have yet to download a single music file. I actually prefer to go to traditional record stores like Tower and Virgin, and spend hours at the listening stations, carefully selecting music that appeals to me. Then I silently curse under my breath that I can't afford all the CDs I want to buy, make my selection, and pay the cashier.

I am not the typical music consumer, though. Pre-recorded music sales are driven by adolescents, teenagers and young adults…the same group that is driving the file sharing phenomenon. People with little real income, other than what mommy and daddy give them, or maybe what they earned at part-time, low-paying jobs. They'd rather spend that money on something they CAN'T get for free…like the latest video game cartridge...or gas for their car. This is the market that joins the fan clubs and attends the concerts and calls the radio request lines and BUYS THE OVERPRICED CDs, even after they have downloaded some of the songs for free. The music industry needs these people, so it doesn't make sense to continue to exploit them as badly as they do.

If CDs cost $5, file sharing wouldn’t even be an issue.

More later…
Paul