Electronic Arts in Common Sense Shocker!

"...people need to recognize that every BitTorrent download doesn’t represent a successful copy of a game, let alone a lost sale."

So says Mariam Sughayer, of Electronic Arts' corporate communications.

Now, the implications of this statement are quite far-reaching. The obsession of the recording industries in pointing out that they are losing millions in revenue due to 'illegal' music downloading is lost when the facts are taken into account.

Here's a fact: To lose millions, you first have to make millions, then lose them.

Such a business model — built on imaginary losses — is a logical and mathematical mess. The world's economy is in the shape it is because it is in the hands of minds like this.

As far as the global economy goes, a little Darwinism is all that's needed, if the governments will allow that to happen.

But Electronic Arts' message is a sensible one, and one which many businesses could do with taking on board. They're taking the wider view, which is concentrate on what you do best.

Make good golf games.

The Deal with Piracy

What is the big deal with people downloading music for free? Is it stealing? What — really — is the issue?

Consider that the entity that stands to make the most money out of terrorising children into paying for a CD are the corporations who represent the artists. The artists aren't into that kind of negative publicity. I don't think a genuine musician would inflict the threat of court, fines, the inherent stress and hassle of judicial action on anyone, and the shops are doing their best to trust the corporations but their patience will only last for so long.

While I'm not a professional (as such. Except for the odd free round at the pub) I would like to think that if I was capable of producing large quantities of music that people wanted to listen to, I would certainly not be looking for an agent, publisher or distributor in this day and age.

They are an anachronism and we'd be better off without them.

I have the knowledge to produce a short run of CDs, encode some medium quality 'taster' tracks and put my own site together, maybe set up stores on some of the better known websites. I'd work the system that is currently in place, just the same as the distributors and publishers did fifty years ago and more.

I do not have a problem with the illegal downloading of copyrighted music from any of the available sources online.

Certainly one illustration of this is that my current (bought) CD collection contains a lot of music which I had 'previewed' online, because it was free. I have discovered a wider musical taste within myself as a direct result of the technology, and that suits me.

As a result, I have spent money on CDs where I might previously have not.

I think it's about time that the companies who 'represent' (read: rip off) the genuine artists in this world stop bitching about how the rest of the world overtook them. If these people were doing their job properly and weren't so far removed from the people they were pretending to serve, they would have spotted this revolution years ago and maybe invested in an ISP or bought into the technology to allow them to make the most of the situation they are now so publicly feeling sorry for themselves for.

It is low to blame the world for a mistake made with other people's livelihoods years ago, when it would have been more profitable for all concerned to have done something about it then.

Professional musician Benn Jordan was interviewed by Torrent Freak. Read his account of the current climate here.