Sponsor's Message

I predict that there will be a huge amount of debate and acrimony over the issue of copyright in the next few years, as those who invest in the production and marketing of intellectual property seek to protect themselves from the perceived threat that modern technology represents.

Whether file-sharing, CD burners and the ubiquitous MP3 format have harmed or enhanced the sales of CDs appears to be a moot point.

In Australia, the recording industry claims they're suffering, despite the fact that sales volumes are actually up on last year. This Reuters report however, claims that globally, music sales in 2003 were down by 7.6 percent on the previous year and (of course) they're attributing that decline to the type of piracy that modern technology makes so easy.

Maybe they ought to look a little closer to home.

I can't think of the last time I heard a new album out of the USA or Europe that struck me as being worth downloading, let alone forking out good money for.

Readers Say Got something to say about today's column, or want to see what others think?  Visit The Forums

As ever, the recording companies are keen to blame everyone but themselves.

Could it be that their recent strategy of plucking barely pubescent teens off the street, teaching them to sing a couple of catchy poppy songs, hiring a good director to whip up three minutes of snazzy video and then foisting them on the public is backfiring?

We all know that this strategy is designed to keep the recording industry's costs as low as possible.

When you pluck an unknown off the street and promise them "pop star" status, they'll gladly sign a contract that pays virtually no royalties on their first album -- promising instead that they'll make their money further down the road. Of course, as we all know, when you're deliberately creating one-hit-wonders, there won't be any successful follow-up albums, so the recording companies get to pocket all the revenue from those artists' 15-minutes of fame.

Is it any wonder therefore, that consumers simply can't be bothered buying (or even downloading) the formulaic trash that the studios are manufacturing?

But back to copyright...

Here in NZ, the recording industry is demanding that if consumers are allowed to format-shift (ie: copy) the music they've legally purchased, then some compensation ought to be involved.

Excuse me? Compensation for what??

If they're not *very* careful, the recording industry may well find that they've backed themselves into a mighty deep ditch -- like their peers in Canada appear to have done.

To appease the recording industry over there, the Canadian government has levied a media-levy (aka tax) on every CDR sold. The idea is that this levy is then passed on to those artists who have lost money due to legal (under Canadian law) copying for personal use.

Unfortunately, a court recently ruled that since copying music for personal use is legal, and since the artists are effectively (by way of the media levy) receiving compensation for such copying, then those P2P networks that the industry hates so very much must also be legal. Oh, the irony!

Meanwhile, here in New Zealand, we'll just have to live with the fact that every time we burn a backup copy of a music CD, or create our own compilation disc from tracks ripped off commercial CDs we've legally bought and paid for, we're breaking the law.

New Forums!
Yes folks, good news. The grotty ezboard forums have been replaced with a new phpBBS-based system that won't assault you with a myriad of pop-ups and other flotsam.

A big thanks to Managed Internet Solutions for offering to provide this service.

You can access the new forums over at aardvarkforums.co.nz

If you feel that this is a good thing and/or you hold a "geniune affection" for yours truly -- then you are welcome to gift me some money using the buttons provided. In gifting this money you accept that no goods, service or other consideration is offered, provided, accepted or anticipated in return. Just click on the button to gift whatever you can afford. NOTE: PayPal bills in US dollars so don't accidentally gift more than what you were intending :-)

Contacting Aardvark
I'm always happy to hear from readers, whether they're delivering brickbats, bouquets or news tip-offs. If you'd like to contact me directly, please this form. If you're happy for me to republish your comments then please be sure and select For Publication.

Other media organisations seeking more information or republication rights are also invited to contact me.

Just add a couple of lines of JavaScript to your pages and you can get a free summary of Aardvark's daily commentary -- automatically updated each and every week-day.

Aardvark also makes a summary of this daily column available via XML using the RSS format. More details can be found here.

Contact me if you decide to use either of these feeds and have any problems.

Linking Policy
Want to link to this site? Check out Aardvark's Linking Policy.

Did you tell someone else about Aardvark today? If not then do it now!