Entertainment Industry Bubble To Crash Next

I make you 100% correct, the current music and entertainment industry was founded on their ability to manufacture, promote and distribute MEDIA, like CD's, LP and Singles.....The internet now not only frees the consumer but the artist as well, this portion of the economy is heading for a meritocracy, which going to be a sea change. Successful artists based on consumer choice, not on promation by media companies. I never pirate content, i feel that if something entertains me that i should pay the artist for his work, comes from being an ex contractor. As an example i had NO issue paying (£22) for the recent Blu-ray disc of Ironman, however others i know simply PINCHED the DVD from torrents.....a practice i really don't agree with. If you want to stop piracy, drop the on release cost of a DVD/Blu-ray to $10, after a set period of time after release, let people download it for $1 or for nothing.....entertainment companies who try the find and fine approach via ISP's are doomed.

Yes Anthony, I too like the idea of supporting an artist who entertains me, but many of them just make it too hard and too expensive. Having everything in the house from a valve record player through to ipods, I find the quality of the mp3s are so poor that I am sure that is a factor in why teenagers play them so loud and damage their ears. They are paying for rubbish. My daughter was surprised to hear the difference between a CD and an ipod track when played on one of the better systems in the house.

The entertainment companies sell poor quality product at prices that cannot be sustained by the wallets of consumers. I would not be unsurprised to see the itunes store tank in the current climate. The numbers of tracks they've sold doesn't impress me in the least, it's a tiny fraction of the number being listened to.

The entertainment companies are in danger of a fullscale revolt (if it hasn't already happened).

Until they make it easier, lower the price and lessen the proprietary nature of the music format, I'm not buying, for myself or anyone else. Having seen the walkman era come and go I'm sure the ipod thing will do the same. It's still a novelty. Once those hearing damage statistics start to come home to roost the kids may well drop them like a hot potato and go back to socialising and listening to better quality sound (if they haven't been hit by a bus). Storage devices are getting smaller, with more capacity and cheaper and more capable of holding real music.

The music industry is probably the only industry where they think they can go backwards, both in technology and quality of their product, limit their distribution and still expect to make money.

I wouldn't be a shareholder in any of them if you gave me the shares. I'll happily borrow some and short them though.

I note that e-commerce has gone backwards with the latest figures showing a -1% year on year growth this quarter. Incomes under $50,000 are drastically reducing their online spend. The first thing to go will be buying DVD's and itunes.

Only the $100,00+ income bracket are continuing to spend (+14%). That won't sustain the entertainment companies.

Retail E-Commerce (Non-Travel) Growth Rates by Income Segment

Aug-Oct 2008 vs. Year Ago

HH Incomes Segment    Aug-Oct Y/Y

                             % Change             Share of Total
$0 - $49,999               -3%                      21%

$50,000 - $99,999       1%                      45%

Excludes Auctions, Autos and Large Corporate Purchases

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore, Inc.

The others will be next...

Electronic Frontiers Australa (EFA) today expressed concern about a lawsuit filed against Internet Service Provider iiNet in the Federal Court. A consortium of media companies have sued the ISP for allegedly allowing its users to download infringing movies and TV shows by failing to terminate their accounts after allegations of infringement by the copyright industry.

"This lawsuit is the latest attempt by the movie industry to bully
Internet Service Providers into becoming copyright police," said EFA spokesperson Nicolas Suzor. "ISPs are not in a position to monitor and terminate internet access to users based upon unsubstantiated threats from copyright owners, and should not be asked to do so."

Recognising the need for immunity from copyright infringement suits such as these, the Australian Government introduced safe harbours for Internet Service Providers as part of the Australia - United States Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA). These safe harbours provide that ISPs will not be liable to copyright owners for merely routing internet traffic as long as they "adopt and reasonably implement a policy that provides for termination, in appropriate circumstances, of the accounts of repeat infringers." iiNet has publicly stated that it will not disconnect customers on mere allegations of infringement, and that it will comply with its obligations to terminate a customer's internet access after such allegations have been properly proved in a court of law. EFA strongly supports iiNet's position on this issue, and believes that Internet Service Providers cannot and should not be required to pass judgments on the legitimacy of their customers' actions.

"Copyright infringement is a complicated area of law with numerous exceptions. ISPs are simply not equipped and certainly should not be asked to play the role of judge, jury, and executioner upon allegations of infringement," Suzor continued. "Every citizen has a right of due process under the law, and when faced with having their internet service terminated, every citizen has the right to ask that the case against them be proven first."

Experience in the United States of America has shown that allegations of infringement are often made without basis. There have been documented cases in which copyright owners have even alleged that a simple laser printer has illicitly downloaded and shared copyright movies, for example. There have also been allegations of infringement for uses which are clearly permissible under US fair-use law, such as the case of a short home movie in which a baby was filmed dancing to a song on the radio.

Suzor expressed concern that the approach taken by the movie industry will unjustly punish users without due process: "To shift the burden of proof, and require that ISPs terminate access to users upon mere allegations of infringement, would be incredibly harmful to individual internet users in Australia. With the mistakes we have seen in the past overseas, where innocent users have been mercilessly and incorrectly targeted by copyright owners, a regime which requires disconnection without proof goes against all notions of fairness." EFA is also highly concerned that ISPs are being asked to violate the privacy of internet users by spying on their online activities.

EFA believes that if this case were to erode the utility of Australia's safe harbour provisions, it would be extremely stifling to internet innovation and new technology in this country. The existence of safe harbours provide the certainty that operators of communications networks need in order to provide their services to the public. The public benefits greatly from technologies such as BitTorrent, and platforms such as YouTube and MySpace. These services are used for much more than simply exchanging material that infringes copyrights. However, without safe harbours, these services would be likely to be too difficult or risky to operate, or would be so
restricted as to lose the majority of their value.

The safe harbours in Australian copyright law exist to protect
providers of innovative new technologies from copyright infringement claims which would shut them down. The way the safe harbours are designed also protects users from having their accounts terminated without due process. EFA believes that any weakening of either of these two protections is likely to have disastrous effects for Australian internet users.

In fighting this lawsuit, iiNet will be defending the rights of all
Australian Internet users and we wish them luck.

– Ends –

Below is:
- Background information
- Contact details for media

Background:

    *  AFACT Press release about the lawsuit:
http://www.afact.org.au/pressreleases/AFACT_Media_Release_201108_iiNet.PDF

    * iiNet Press release about the lawsuit:
http://www.iinet.net.au/about/media/releases/201108_iinet_to_defend_court_action.pdf

    * Limitations on remedies for copyright infringement against
carriage service providers - Fact sheet:

    * Printer accused of copyright infringement: Tracking the
Trackers, University of Washington: http://dmca.cs.washington.edu/

    * 'Dancing Baby' video accused of infringing copyright:
http://www.eff.org/cases/lenz-v-universal

Not that I'd bother to actually do it but I had a thought on how to make all movies and songs, books and other copyright material available in the whole, legally and for nothing.

It is actually legally possible to do it. I don't suppose I should point out how, but it just might come in handy in negotiations with the entertainment companies one day.

Blame the 1993 Moss Wood...