UK Indie Recording Labels Blaming ISPs For Their Own Failure To Innovate

from the misplaced-blame dept

Well this is unfortunate. While we've come to expect the big record labels to do things like blame ISPs for file sharing, it's a bit surprising to find out that UK's indie record labels are now turning against ISPs as well. Apparently, the Association of Independent Music agrees that suing individual file sharers is not a reasonable approach -- but rather than recognizing the need to change their own business model, they simply want to pin it all on ISPs. They're talking about making ISPs liable for anyone who shares files, or requiring some sort of "compulsory license" for file sharing -- neither of which gets at the core issue of the changing marketplace. As has been said repeatedly, there are plenty of business models that don't involve changing the law or blaming anyone else. We've seen other indie labels around the world who seem to realize this, so it's a bit sad to see this UK-based group going in the other direction. Perhaps it's just what happens when you create an industry "association." Rather than letting competition between different companies lead to the creative solutions the market needs -- the association looks for the easy way out, which involves protecting the existing business models of all members, rather than encouraging innovation. Update: Interesting point in the comments claiming that this organization doesn't really represent most indie labels in the UK.