A recent report is showing that the prevalence of P2P music file-sharing is on the decline but it turns out to have little to do with groups like the RIAA suing music fans:
The plethora of legal music options online has prompted Internet users in the UK to cut down on their P2P ways. According to an annual report from media and technology research firm The Leading Question, monthly file sharing has dropped among all users since the last national survey in 2007. The drop is particularly significant among teens, where file-sharing has declined by a third. LINK
So where are teens going for their music? To legal streaming sites like Last.FM, Pandora and Slacker. See, as soon as there is a useful, accessible and easy option to P2P services, users are more than happy to make the switch.
Instead of spending all their time and energy suing music fans, the music industry needs to focus their resources on creating true competition to piracy. That is the only road to sustainability for the industry. While this shift will mean a huge shake up in the current power-structure it beats losing everything to those dastardly pirates.
Adding to the absurdity of the recent court decision to ban “60 Years Later: Coming Through The Rye” from being sold in the US is the fact that the book has already been published in the UK and, thus, it is readily available to anyone willing to shop online.
TechDirt has pretty good dismantling of Judge Betts’ dangerous and ill-conceived ruling.
For those looking to pick up their own copy of this “banned” book try here, here or here
PSFK has a good look at Lauren Luke, a lovely young woman from the UK who has turned a hobby of selling makeup on Ebay into a full-fledged business thanks almost entirely to her simple makeup how-to videos she posted to YouTube.
While selling beauty products on eBay, a 26-year-old Lauren started posting her homemade make-up tutorials on YouTube to help her customers understand how to use the cosmetics better. Her candid, sweet ‘n simple videos quickly became popular how-tos, and within a matter of months, Lauren become the most watched YouTube personality in the UK.
Now Lauren is launching her own line of makeup and selling it via her own website. Before offering a single product for sale, Lauren has the benefit of literally millions of fans who already consider her a trusted voice.
This sort of story would simply be impossible even ten years ago. Today, thanks to the internet, individuals with a great idea and a lot energy can literally make their dreams a reality.
The most important part of this story is that Lauren never set out to sell her own line of makeup. She started out by freely offering advice and support in an area she knew well. Her goal was to get people to buy stuff on Ebay, sure, but more importantly she was enjoying directly connecting with people and creating a social network from the experience.
By building herself first as a trusted expert and not as a salesperson, she is now able to launch a business at a time when many business are folding.
Lauren is also a great example for those who think the whole idea of being an internet entrepreneur is just a pipe-dream. It’s not. The mistake most people make is that they fail to work hard at something they are passionate about and instead focus on sales from day one.
The UK’s Birmingham University is offering a one-year masters program in “social media” and many short-sighted individuals seem to think it is a silly waste of time and money:
Offering courses on how to use social media for business and marketing is one thing. But an entire degree on it? As Politico columnist Ari Melber posits on Twitter, It’s about as brilliant as a degree in email would have been ten years ago. (via)
Here is how the program is described in the GuardianUK:
Students on the £4,000 one-year Social Media degree, offered by Birmingham City University, will explore how we communicate on the websites and how they can be used for marketing.
Other modules on the course will teach students how to start a blog and podcasting techniques. The course is being advertised through a video on the university’s website.
It seems to me, especially in this challenging economic climate, that spending a year mastering the tools of communication online is a far more valuable investment than, say, a two-year masters in English Literature or many other areas of study we’ve all come to accept as “valuable.”
Sure, the basics of social media are not all that complex, but those who are able to master and manipulate those networks stand to end up far ahead of the pack.
If I had the money in hand, I would probably go take the program myself.
In a rare sign of government siding with users instead of big media, the UK has indicated that it will not be policing ISPs and their users in what has been called a “three-strikes-and-your-out” policy:
There had been mounting speculation about government legislation on the issue as the music industry steps up its fight against the pirates. Other countries, such as France, have supported tough action on file-sharers, who the industry claims cost them dear. But Mr Lammy said legislation would be too complex. “We can’t have a system where we’re talking about arresting teenagers in their bedrooms,” he told The Times newspaper.
One hopes that other countries take notice and think long and hard before taking on “pirates” in an attempt to save a misguided and floundering music industry.
Quick thanks to Tilzy.tv for turning me onto “Scene Kid LOVE” a dead-on satire of the Facebook generation with a brilliant combination of love and snark.
This series is racking up an impressive 300,000+ views/episode and holds those numbers steady over time. The writing and acting is fantastic and reminds me in some ways of the UK’s “Absolutely Fabulous” but I can’t say they are actually similar.
Anyhow, it is a fantastic example of speaking to your audience and not trying to reach the lowest-common-denominator. This is where webseries really shine. (see: The Guild)
The UK is widely known to be one of the most surveilled countries in the world. According to The Daily Mail “There are already 4.2million cameras trained on the public.”
“CCTV cameras which can ‘predict’ if a crime is about to take place are being introduced on Britain’s streets. The cameras can alert operators to suspicious behaviour, such as loitering and unusually slow walking. Anyone spotted could then have to explain their behaviour to a police officer.”
Someday people will wonder if it was worth trading in their privacy rights for a false sense of security but by then it will be far too late.
In the US, we’ve grown so accustom to product placement that some are wondering if it is even effective anymore. In the UK, however, they have some heavy rules about the separation between brand and content.
This has led to a censure of ITV for broadcasting episodes of “American Idol” featuring music videos that they claim overtly plug Ford cars.
Anyone who watched any of AI last year knows full-well that those music videos were so obviously Ford-sponsored that they could have been mistaken for ads themselves. I don’t think anyone thought they were trying to hide the fact.
Which makes statements like this so funny:
“In response, however, ITV said the music videos in question were included on their “editorial merits” in terms of entertainment value to audiences and were not the result of any relationship between the broadcaster and Ford.” (via TheStage)
Remember when blank CDs cost a few bucks a pop? Now, of course, their almost free. Combine that with the fact that more people are downloading music than ever before and it isn’t surprising to see CDs simply being given away by bands for promotional purposes.
Of course, there is still the issue of distribution. Distribution of hard goods is expensive. No way around that. Unless, of course, you piggyback on an existing platform.
That’s just what rising UK band McFly has done, partnering with a big paper in the UK to put a free copy of their album in every issue of the paper. Not only can the paper offer a free gift, but the band reaches thousands of potential new fans.
“As we’ve noted in the past, this is a fantastic strategy for both newspapers and musicians. It helps both sides quite a bit, which is exactly what the band sees, noting that they just want to get more fans, and are hoping more will come see them on their latest tour.”
Over on BoingBoing there is word on the ever-increasing invasions of privacy being perpetrated on the now guilty-until-constantly-proven-innocent UK internet users:
“Virgin Media — the UK’s largest cable-modem provider — has decided that it will spy on its users to protect the record industry. It is sending out letters to thousands of customers warning them that infringement has been detected on their network connections (Virgin customers who leave their WiFi open — as I did, when I had their cable-modem service — will be collateral damage in this fight).”
As Cory points out, this is not something they are doing because the government says they have to – although their are elements lobbying the government to take this step – they’re doing it to appease large music labels.
Hey, wait, isn’t Virgin Media also a large music label…?
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July 15, 2009 7:42 am | 
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