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Economics of File-Sharing

Posted by michael on from the invisible-hand dept.

Umair writes "The Red Herring's got an article by me about the economics of file-sharing, which argues that the music industry should provide insurance...against itself. This is because the contract listeners sign with labels is risky - it lets labels shirk on their end of the bargain. That's why file-sharing isn't just 'theft', it's risk-sharing. The original, longer, version of the paper is here, which argues that this a situation economists call double moral hazard."

2 of 265 comments (clear)

  1. 14.4! by Aliencow · · Score: 5, Funny

    They should just pass a law to force everyone to use 14.4K modems unless you own the totality of the music owned by the RIAA members, and still have the original bill, of course.

    Or sue "teh interweb"

    1. Re:14.4! by Aliencow · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well they already tried to shutdown lyrics sites didn't they?
      I mean...if I can read the lyrics why do I need to buy the CD? Sounds obvious to me!