French Three Strikes Law Rides Again, EU Rules Be Damned
from the liberte,-egalite,-we-make-you-pay dept
It was a bit of a surprise when the French parliament rejected the country's proposed three-strikes law against file-sharers a few weeks ago. The bill had gotten a lot of support from President Nicolas Sarkozy (who is something of a pirate himself) and many musicians, but it was able to get defeated by a little bit of clever chicanery from the opposition. But the proposal lives on, and has been revived in parliament. This legislation continues, even though there isn't agreement on whether the proposal is okay with the EU's new draft of rules on three-strikes laws. Previous stories on the EU rules seemed to indicate that France had shaped the European rules so that this law would be acceptable, but Billboard says the proposal is in conflict with EU telecom law. One fantastic new detail of the revived bill: the BBC says two members of Sarkozy's party have joined the opposition to the bill, because it features an amendment that would make users who were banned under the law continue to pay their ISP bills. It just gets better and better...
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Filed Under: france, nicolas sarkozy, three strikes
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Oh COME ON now!
Ok, now, really, can there now be ANY QUESTION as to the collusion of the *IAA's and the government? I mean, seriously, you have to KEEP PAYING YOUR BILL even after you have been denied service? Who in their right mind would EVER think this is right, fair, or legal? Oh the French, and the big media industries apparently. But pretty much EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET would think this is just ridiculous.
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It's effective - and I want to be paid my worth, dammit
It's only a matter of time until this comes to pass and can't come quick enough.
I can then start making money again - lots of money!
Remember, you CAN'T COMPETE WITH FREE, regardless of what Mike says or how many so-called 'examples' he gives.
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Snow White and the Seven Brown Dwarfs
Note: This article may be written in Longino Dialect. Americans may not understand humour, only humor. The French may not understand anything at all. Don't change a thing to remedy this.
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Three Strikes Rule for Legislation
Under this rule, if an item has been shelved, voted down or otherwise revised three times it gets thrown out for a minimum of five years.
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It is a sad day when even corporate whoreing musicans can't make it in today's music market. /sarcasm
It is plainly obvious to me why you are "Undervalued", it's because you have no value. If you wern't such a RIAA dog then you would realize that there are pleanty of ways to make money, and yes you can compete with free. You have to give your listeners something of value.
The things Mike writs about DO in fact work, if you were less occupied worrying about all "your money" you are losing out on and focused on promoting yourself and treating your fans like fans and not criminals, You would probably do better.
You should look at Jonathan Coulton, he is a shining example of an artist that has adapted to the current state of the music buisness. He offers CDs for sale and people buy them, even though he says right on his site that you can get them for FREE. He simply askes that if you can, support him, if you don't have the money then SEND HIS MUSIC TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS! Who would have thought that sharing could be a good thing. Certainly not you.
Try being a little creative and adapt rather then relying on a dying business model from 50 years ago. In all honesty if you can't come up with something original to make your band/self more successful, then your music probably sucks, like your business skills.
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Re: It's effective - and I want to be paid my worth, dammit
What's interesting is that a Canadian Gov't Commissioned Study Finds P2P Downloaders Buy More Music. This falls in face of France. The idea that they continue to waffle on the idea should indicate some sort of trouble getting it passed. Yet another article has similar findings. Noting that pirates are 10 times more likely to buy music than non-pirates. This seems like, again a question of what kind of genie your fighting to put back in the bottle.
For your reading pleasure, here's a link to the full study to Canada's Parliament:
The Impact of Music Downloads and P2P File-Sharing on the Purchase of Music: A Study for Industry Canada
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Re: It's effective - and I want to be paid my worth, dammit
Have you heard of a band called "Metric"? They recently put out music totally online and without a label, and their music is doing pretty well, infact it's placing in the #30s of all sales, according to Nielsen.
The band manager had this to say:
"Talking gross numbers that come directly to the band, we have made more money already than we have on the last record in four years," said Mathieu Drouin, the band's co-manager. "Without any intermediary, we're making 77 cents on the dollar for every record we sell" on iTunes.
Who said they can't make any money selling direct to the customer? An undervalued musician or company shill?
Read it for yourself:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-ct-music16-2009apr16,0,7581416.story
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Re: Oh COME ON now!
Or could I just say screw this, I don't need it that bad.
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When I read stuff like this I have to laugh. Oh ya file sharing is such a huge problem, but if that is the case then why are people buying music. In 2008 itunes sold 1.07 billion tracks (a 27% increase over 2007) and 65.8 million albums (a 32% increase over 2007). Now I would be willing to bet that most if not all of that music is to be had for free on the net but gee people are buying. Add in the other music sellers on the web and you are looking at some serious money being spent on music so once again how is file sharing hurting the artists?
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RE:It's effective - and I want to be paid my worth, dammit
In reading your post, the thought occurred to me that you are being facetious due to the overeager quality exemplified by statements like "I can then start making money again - lots of money!" Is your intent to be provocative or humorous? I certainly hope so because the facts do not support your position.
If you personally made "lots of money" under the old system, which is selling plastic discs, then you must be pretty famous. If you are now losing money due to file-sharing and can find no other musical outlet for your fame, perhaps you might reconsider what you mean by "undervalued" and question the very notion of your "musician" status.
For myself and other hardworking musicians that I work with and are friends with, it seems like the sky is the limit now that the old gatekeepers of culture have lost control. The other side of the coin is that no one is going to hold your hand. It is up to your hard work to gain the privilege of having fans who support you.
Substance over Hype. Try before you buy. Creativity over Regurgitation. Undeniable talent and presentation over manufactured artistry. These are some of the the qualities that gain you true fans for a lifetime.
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As for the actual story, there is no way I would allow myself to be charged for cut-off services. Such a case is when a lawyer does come in handy as I would sue the shit out of any ISP attempting this.
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