EMI Sticking With IFPI, But Cutting Its Allowance To Sue Music Fans

from the change-from-within? dept

Over the last few months, there have been some indications that major label EMI was sick of the RIAA and IFPI's war on music fans -- and even had threatened to leave the groups. While a huge step, it wasn't a huge surprise, given the new management in charge at EMI, who did not come from a music industry background. It became clear quite quickly that the firm wasn't going to rest on its laurels, but wanted to learn to adapt and to adopt the new business models that involved treating fans right, not suing them. It appears that EMI has now worked out a deal with the IFPI, where it will stay a member of the organization but will contribute significantly less money towards IFPI's "anti-piracy" activities. At the very least, this makes it quite clear that EMI recognizes those activities are counterproductive. For years, the record labels have been insisting that they need to step up such activities, even as every time they did so, things got worse. Of course, the IFPI is still suing and trying to take down sites, so it's not as if the industry has fully realized how counterproductive these activities are. Eventually, though, perhaps they'll realize.

Filed Under: copyright, ifpi, lawsuits, music
Companies: emi, ifpi

IFPI Gets Israeli Court To Block (And Advertise) File Sharing Site

from the down-goes-another-one dept

The entertainment industry really has a way about convincing judges and politicians that something really awful is going on with bittorrent search engines -- despite the fact that they have yet to present any evidence that any of them are illegal. Since they're search engines, they are not hosting any infringing content, and there are plenty of legitimate uses of these systems, as can be seen by the fact that Trent Reznor just used various torrent sites to help promote his latest album (which appears to be doing quite well). If there are problems with particular content, the answer isn't to blame the site, but to go after those responsible for offering up the infringing content itself. Yet, through various scare tactics, the entertainment industry convinces judges and politicians that it's the search engines' fault. The latest is in Israel, where the IFPI has convinced a judge to order the country's largest ISPs to block a torrent site named Httpshare. This doesn't appear to fit with the laws in Israel at all, which has some wondering why the judge would make such an order. Of course, the end result will likely backfire on the IFPI. Remember, it was just a few weeks ago that a Danish court similarly ordered ISPs to block Pirate Bay. The end result was just to generate a lot more attention for Pirate Bay increasing traffic greatly from Denmark. The same thing is likely to now happen in Israel with Httpshare, a site I'd never heard about. There will be rather easy workarounds for users who want to get there, and thanks to the IFPI putting it in the headlines, chances are many more people will go check it out.

Filed Under: blocking torrent sites, ifpi, israel, streisand effect
Companies: httpshare

Danish Block Of The Pirate Bay Leads To Even More Traffic

from the nice-publicity-stunt,-IFPI dept

We've noted in the past that every time the RIAA or the IFPI scores a "significant blow" against an operation they accuse of piracy, it only seems to drive more attention to those sites. That appears to be happening once again. Since the IFPI convinced a Danish court to block users from accessing the Pirate Bay, traffic from Denmark to the Pirate Bay has actually increased, thanks mainly to the news coverage of the story. So, for such a significant blow, it appears that all the IFPI has succeeded in doing is providing free advertising for the Pirate Bay.

Filed Under: denmark, ifpi, pirate bay, significant blow, streisand effect
Companies: ifpi, pirate bay, tele2

Hollywood Continues Its Worldwide Push To Have ISPs Block Sites Like Pirate Bay

from the why-innovate-when-we-can-legislate! dept

It would appear that the IFPI is following in the footsteps of the US entertainment industry in pushing government around the world to force ISPs to block access to sites and content that the entertainment industry wishes weren't available online. This is the latest in an ongoing effort for the entertainment industry to pretend that the internet needs to conform to the way it wants the world to act, rather than conforming to the way the internet actually works. The push would include requirements such as having ISPs set up massive filters, similar to China's "Great Firewall," to block sites like the Pirate Bay (despite the non-infringing uses of such sites) and also to block any downloads of certain digital audio and video tracks as recorded by a digital fingerprint. The fact that the IFPI is pushing for this is no surprise, given the RIAA/MPAA's similar push within the US, as well as recent efforts in both France and the UK to implement such policies.

There are many, many reasons why such policies aren't just bad, but dangerous to innovation. As we're already seeing elsewhere, the entertainment industry now seems to think that any new innovation that makes it easier to distribute, copy or promote content now needs to get approval from the industry (while also paying a royalty fee). If Hollywood had its way, things like the VCR and the iPod wouldn't even exist -- despite the fact that both devices have helped to provide new life to the entertainment industry. The same will be true of various internet services -- but not if Hollywood succeeds in getting them blocked completely. It's amazing how many times Hollywood will need to relearn this lesson. Every time some new technology comes along, Hollywood freaks out that it might need to adapt -- and yet, time and time again, that new technology has only helped to reinvigorate the industry. Yet, by spreading FUD all over the place, the entertainment industry has become much better at bending politicians' ears to the point that those politicians incorrectly believe that the industry is doomed if it actually needed to adapt and change its business model, despite plenty of historical and economic evidence that those adaptations will come if the market is left alone to innovate.

Filed Under: filtering, hollywood, ifpi, isps, mpaa, piracy, riaa, unauthorized content
Companies: ifpi