4 Comments

1. Chris A says:

   November 30, 2010 at 9:52 am

   My view on levies hasn’t changed, but it’s nice to see people speaking out against the digital locks.
2. Rick Harris says:

   November 30, 2010 at 10:07 am

   Nothing here of value…
   “‘The vast majority of music consumed on the Internet – over 90 percent – is pirated,’ observes McCarty”

   Unsupportable, hyperbolic crap. I stopped reading.
3. Napalm says:

   November 30, 2010 at 10:18 am

   …
   “The vast majority of music consumed on the Internet – over 90 percent – is pirated,’ observes McCarty”

   The vast majority of music consumed through expensive Hi-Fi chains – over 90 percent – is legally bought, observes Napalm.

   Nap.
4. Anon-K says:

   December 1, 2010 at 12:56 pm

   @Chris A: Agreed. Digital locks don’t protect the artists. They protect the publishers.

   And levies… I am reminded of a “Dire Straits” song… “money for nothing and your chicks for free”. At the very least they represent a lazy way to do business. A levy provides a means to compensate for losses due to piracy, sure. However, the distribution formula of the levy assumes that, as an artist sells more product, they will have more piracy against them. Has this, in fact, been verified? The music industry claims that the songs have value. So, what is the value to them? How much are they willing to invest in protecting that value? A levy seriously reduces the investment to something approaching 0. They are going to get paid for someone buying something that could be used to infringe. Why not, then, just pay an extra, say, $1000 on a car to pay, in advance, for speeding tickets?