As a SOCAN member, I was horrified by the news of their lawsuit with the ISP's. It *may* have been relevant three years ago, when people signing up for high-speed internet were likely doing so to get onto Napster 1.0 and other "file sharing" networks. It may have been fair if things did not change as fast as they do. But SOCAN is hopelessly living in the past. here is the full text of the letter i sent them:
My name is Sam Blue, owner of independant label Artefakt. I am writing on behalf of myself and Kim Kelly, songwriter for The House of Mary.
We would like to make a formal complaint regarding the court case which has recently been publicised between Socan and the Internet Service providers.
As SOCAN members, we are strongly opposed to this type of lawsuit, and feel the cost, time, energy, and publicity can only do harm to SOCAN and the interests it represents.
I think it would be worthwhile to investigate some of the trends that are now taking place in the online music industry. A lot has changed since your lawsuit began three years ago.
The opportunities for artists selling their music online, through legitimate, secure music services are tremendous, especially for independant artists like ourselves.
And the popularity of illegal file-swapping networks seems to be in decline. This is mainly because services like Apple's iTunes simply work so well that people can't be bothered with illegal downloads, which ultimately take more time and effort, and are less reliable than the one-click downloads you can get on iTunes and comparable services.
In the earlier days of napster [again this was only 3 years ago] we made a point of putting select tracks of our own music on Napster in hopes people would be exposed to it on an international scale. We also made a point of putting half of our CD on our own website [at lo-fi quality] so people would have a previos of the CD.
We pressed our CDs on a short run of 500. In three years, we have sold perhaps half of those. After doing our own distribution, promotion in the atlantic area, we concluded that the entire business model of selling CDs in music stores is one whose days are numbered.
We look forward to the launch of iTunes in Canada and other countries. We see this as an opportunity to market out music internationally, without having to undertake the cost and effort of "physical" distribution. In short, we believe the future of the music business is entirely online.
I personally hope that SOCAN recognizes soon enough that the online market is likely to be their greatest opportunity, not a threat.
Suing the internet service providers seems to me like biting the hand that feeds us.
There is definitly illegal activity still going on on a mass scale, which can hurt artists, but there is also a lot of promise in the legitimate music businesses that are now emerging.
There are a number of things SOCAN could be doing to combat illegal file sharing, AND encouraging more royaltiy revenues online:
1. Secure partnerships with the legitimate online music stores like itunes, e-music, CD Baby, etc...
2. Identify promotional opportunities for driving legitimate online music sales - Radio, TV, Print, so people will flock to paid music services and abandon illegal file swapping.
3. Form a partnership with ISPs [internet service providers] to monitor network activity related to file-swapping. There may be ways for ISPs to "block" file swapping through programs like Limewire by re-configuring their network.
4. Research the growing trend of Internet Radio - radio stations which broadcast live on the internet. Many can be found at shoutcast.com These stations are tapping into an international audience and many are unregulated and have no advertising [and therefore no revenue] but have a growing audience. Some stations are now able to charge a subscription fee, part of which "ought" to be shared with the artists.
5. Investigate ways SOCAN can collect not only more royalties, but more RAW DATA through internet technology. The online music stores have the ability to track each individu
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As a SOCAN member, I was horrified by the news of their lawsuit with the ISP's. It *may* have been relevant three years ago, when people signing up for high-speed internet were likely doing so to get onto Napster 1.0 and other "file sharing" networks. It may have been fair if things did not change as fast as they do. But SOCAN is hopelessly living in the past. here is the full text of the letter i sent them: My name is Sam Blue, owner of independant label Artefakt. I am writing on behalf of myself and Kim Kelly, songwriter for The House of Mary. We would like to make a formal complaint regarding the court case which has recently been publicised between Socan and the Internet Service providers. As SOCAN members, we are strongly opposed to this type of lawsuit, and feel the cost, time, energy, and publicity can only do harm to SOCAN and the interests it represents. I think it would be worthwhile to investigate some of the trends that are now taking place in the online music industry. A lot has changed since your lawsuit began three years ago. The opportunities for artists selling their music online, through legitimate, secure music services are tremendous, especially for independant artists like ourselves. And the popularity of illegal file-swapping networks seems to be in decline. This is mainly because services like Apple's iTunes simply work so well that people can't be bothered with illegal downloads, which ultimately take more time and effort, and are less reliable than the one-click downloads you can get on iTunes and comparable services. In the earlier days of napster [again this was only 3 years ago] we made a point of putting select tracks of our own music on Napster in hopes people would be exposed to it on an international scale. We also made a point of putting half of our CD on our own website [at lo-fi quality] so people would have a previos of the CD. We pressed our CDs on a short run of 500. In three years, we have sold perhaps half of those. After doing our own distribution, promotion in the atlantic area, we concluded that the entire business model of selling CDs in music stores is one whose days are numbered. We look forward to the launch of iTunes in Canada and other countries. We see this as an opportunity to market out music internationally, without having to undertake the cost and effort of "physical" distribution. In short, we believe the future of the music business is entirely online. I personally hope that SOCAN recognizes soon enough that the online market is likely to be their greatest opportunity, not a threat. Suing the internet service providers seems to me like biting the hand that feeds us. There is definitly illegal activity still going on on a mass scale, which can hurt artists, but there is also a lot of promise in the legitimate music businesses that are now emerging. There are a number of things SOCAN could be doing to combat illegal file sharing, AND encouraging more royaltiy revenues online: 1. Secure partnerships with the legitimate online music stores like itunes, e-music, CD Baby, etc... 2. Identify promotional opportunities for driving legitimate online music sales - Radio, TV, Print, so people will flock to paid music services and abandon illegal file swapping. 3. Form a partnership with ISPs [internet service providers] to monitor network activity related to file-swapping. There may be ways for ISPs to "block" file swapping through programs like Limewire by re-configuring their network. 4. Research the growing trend of Internet Radio - radio stations which broadcast live on the internet. Many can be found at shoutcast.com These stations are tapping into an international audience and many are unregulated and have no advertising [and therefore no revenue] but have a growing audience. Some stations are now able to charge a subscription fee, part of which "ought" to be shared with the artists. 5. Investigate ways SOCAN can collect not only more royalties, but more RAW DATA through internet technology. The online music stores have the ability to track each individu