Something's happening here

Is it a coincidence that two of the top stories in the music industry today relate to different approaches to dealing with folks file sharing?

In the UK the first person prosecuted for file sharing has been acquitted. This doesn't bode well for the government strategy of trying to discourage the practice by threat and punishment.

In Denmark there is news of the success of an ISP that has been bundling free access to any and all music as part of its monthly subscription charge to customers. Making digital music appear free to consumers. What a smart idea.

Worth reading the whole story especially the points about the much lower cost of customer acquisition and the dramatically lower churn rate for customers. This clearly gives the company a compelling competitive edge.

So this business model can and does seem to work whereas trying to control and correct people's behaviour evidently doesn't.

Thank you Record of the Day for the links.

A better use for half a billion pounds

According to this Daily Telegraph piece last week the introduction of anti-piracy measures in the Digital Economy Bill will cost consumers up to £500 million annually.

Here's an idea, if we're going to seriously entertain pursuing this, why not give the entire sum of money instead to copyright owners – artists and record labels – and in return have them give consumers all their digital music for free.

It might sound radical but just try thinking of it as a new business model and it's not so scary.