Labels Still Blaming P2P

It seems as if the major labels will never stop blaming piracy for all there woes.  Acording to FMQB "Sony-BMG CEO Andrew Lack said the music industry is still on shaky ground because of Internet piracy while speaking at a Billboard magazine conference on Thursday. "It’s devastating our business," he said. "Until we attack piracy, there is no growth model and no stability."

"The New York Daily News reports that while iTunes and rising music sales to cell phones have given the music business reason to be optimistic, Lack said that is still only a tiny fraction of the industry. CD sales in the U.S. did begin to recover last year, but they are down 11 percent so far this year. Sony-BMG is working on boosting sales with the new DualDisc technology, which features a CD on one side and a DVD on the other. Lack also is pushing Sony-BMG into the movie and television business, looking for productions to pair with the company’s artists. "We have three to four projects," he told the Daily News."

"Meanwhile, Lack and many others in the entertainment business are waiting as the Supreme Court prepares to hear a case against Grokster, claiming that the company is responsible for the illegal actions of its users since Grokster makes file swapping software. As FMQB reported in January, P2P companies have already won earlier battles in lower courts, including last August when the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that they were not at fault for their users’ actions in breaking copyright laws."

Enough already. Illegal downloads cost the major labels a lot of money. But it exists and it’s not going anywhere.  Instead of embracing technologies and concepts that monetize P2P and untilize incredible it’s promotional power, the suits and bean-counters keep closing their eyes to the truth, remember past glories and sue individual downlaoders. 

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