BBC NEWS | Programmes | Click | Film piracy: Is it theft?
A wonderful two-headed interview (not a debate, since the interviewees are in different places) about art, technology and business today. The video feed can be watched at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/help/3681938.stm.
Dan Glickman of the MPAA sticks to the ignorant caveman definitions and uses of the words "theft" and "piracy" as commonly applied to intellectual property rights and technology today. He seems to be ignorant of the entertainment industry's own successful processes that compete with "free."
John Perry Barlow smartly and soberly (hmmm, he wrote lyrics for the Grateful Dead) provides clear examples of how he has prospered from "free" (his example of the Dead's blanket permission for their fans to tape and distribute concerts). His scathing point that the entertainment industry is peopled by men who are older, less flexible, and less smart that the average young consumer today, and the industry must adapt.
The industry should have adapted ten years ago, yet they collectively cry like babies and misdirect attention to make up for the fact that their share of the entertainment pie does not continue to grow exponentially, all while consumers and artists are not being served.
The music industry, from the rise of Rock 'n Roll and the LP record, and the movie industry, from the birth of the summer blockbuster and the home video market, have prospered and found brilliant ways to provide less value to consumers and less compensation to artists. The entertainment industry, and perhaps more importantly our artistic culture, will never truly prosper until this gets turned around, with consumers receiving far greater quality and value and artists (in both broad and deep ways) receiving far more support and compensation for their work.
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