Lawsuits Against File-Sharing
The IFPI launched 8,000 cases against alleged file-sharers in 17 countries. This article from Reuters has the basic facts.
Thought-exercise: let’s say lawyers run about $150/hr. Let’s say a case takes–what–80 hours for each side. That’s $150 * 80 * 2 * 8000 = $192 million dollars.
Wow. That’s pretty expensive marketing.
I assume that the point to this is propagandistic more than punitive–the very existence of the press releases and simultaneous filings make that pretty clear. That’s not to say that I’m condoning file sharing–nope. More on that in another post. Just posing kind of a logical question: is that the best marketing bang-for-the-buck for $192 million?
I’ve been annoyed by the new motion-picture-industry pseudo-commercial tacked on DVDs. It comes at the front–can’t be skipped, can’t be forwarded–and it’s a rock-vid style you-wouldn’t-steal-a-purse thing. I look at my sons absorbing it and wonder if it’s having any impact.
Call this a controversial position–my view, not the company’s. Seems to me the lawsuit thing is hurting, not helping. The people most likely to steal by file-sharing (youth) are least likely to think a lawsuit might affect them. Heck, they have the least to lose in a lawsuit–money is money, but reputation, professional hit, time lost–much bigger the older you get.
The lawsuit-as-marketing impact on the rest of the world is a paralyzing carefullness that’s impeding digital music. I’ve had grown, sane adults tell me they didn’t use Napster because they didn’t want to be sued. (That’s today’s Napster.) And they weren’t sure about all of the music on Yahoo.
Apple played this one perfectly. They created a walled garden that even grandmothers know is safe and legal.
Can $192 million be spent in a better way to change the changeable behaviors?
Oh, darn. You’re right. I forgot the punchline. If the suits are successful, it’s the violaters that are paying. Now that’s a way to crank up your marketing budget! I wonder–we’re a startup, cash is precious–we could sue a few of our customers for IP violations. You think any of the others would notice, or that it would affect our reputation?
The non-digital-native consumers—most of the people over @25–are waiting in the wings with their CDs and stereos. They haven’t gone to digital music in mass numbers. They will–when it seems fair, sensible and above all pleasant.
Asking ’em to jump in right now is like expecting people to rush into your restaurant while the cops are still leaving with the partiers in handcuffs.
MusicBits 
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