Digital Music News - Pint of McGuinness Stirs Heavy Industry Reaction

Pint of McGuinness Stirs Heavy Industry Reaction

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
by presnikoff

U2 manager Paul McGuinness is now stirring strong reactions within the industry, thanks to a lengthy, pro-label speech this week in Cannes. The McGuinness address pushed momentum for greater regulation on access providers worldwide, and blamed technology manufacturers and ISPs for stealing industry money. "Network operators, in particular, have for too long had a free ride on music — on our clients' content," McGuinness thumped. "It's time for a new approach — time for ISPs to start taking responsibility for the content they've profited from for years."

The speech contained a number of enforcement ideas, including a three-strikes policy against heavy swappers. It also pegged the "hippie values" of modern entrepreneurs as a major culprit for the mess that the recording industry finds itself in. "And embedded deep down in the brilliance of those entrepreneurial, hippie values seems to be a disregard for the true value of music," McGuinness explained. "I call on them today to start doing two things: first, taking responsibility for protecting the music they are distributing; and second, by commercial agreements, sharing their enormous revenues with the content makers and owners".

That plan includes a shift away from prosecuting individual swappers. "I think the failure of ISPs to engage in the fight against piracy, to date, has been the single biggest failure in the digital music market," McGuinness explained. "I suggest we shift the focus of moral pressure away from the individual P2P file thief and onto the multi-billion dollar industries that benefit from these countless tiny crimes - the ISPs, the telcos, the device makers."

Speech, Full Text

Tweet
Comments Closed

Comments (0)

OUR SPONSORS