Will Newspapers Ever Solve the Problem of Content Theft?
Say what you will about the RIAA. Ultimately, it made the trains run on time.
The Recording Industry Association of America, the trade group for the U.S. music industry, has made many enemies in the Web world for its draconian approach to copyright. It killed Napster and has tracked down and snuffed out one peer-to-peer file-sharing service after another. It has also famously sued random college students for their file-sharing misdeeds, scaring the bejesus out of parents everywhere.
All of which set things up perfectly for the iPod. Sure, college students (and everyone else) would prefer free songs to 99-cent songs, but considering the opportunity costs — possible lawsuits, nagging parents, file-sharing service providers forced to hide in caves, etc. — 99 cents suddenly sounded like a pretty good deal.
And so, while certainly the music industry has its challenges, at least more people are paying for music now than stealing it.
Which is something that can’t be said for the newspaper industry.