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> Perhaps even better, without the torrent files everyone can soon host a full copy of The Pirate Bay on a USB thumb drive, which may come in handy in the futur

> Perhaps even better, without the torrent files everyone can soon host a full copy of The Pirate Bay on a USB thumb drive, which may come in handy in the future. I've been saying this for years: governments playing an arms race with hackers is like playing Whack-a-mole or cutting of heads of hydras. Every time you block one means of communication (starting in this case with Napster), a new, more decentralized, harder-to-combat protocol is going to emerge. Even if you're the MPAA and don't like copyright violations, you have to face that fact. That doesn't mean you (necessarily) have to throw in the towel and abandon the idea of copyright infringement altogether, but it does mean you need to start being creative instead of engaging in a direct legal-technological battle - an arms race. I wonder how long it will take before the big players realize this and try to figure out a way to use this new playing field (the Internet) to their advantage, instead of trying to squelch any technological development so that they can cling to old models of payment and distribution. It was nice while it happened, but let's face it - we're past the point of no return. Even if they everyone hosted their own copies of TPB on their thumb drives and then they found some way to shut that down, I'm certain there'd be some hacker smart enough (like gojomo above) to come up with something that just makes things even less centralized, more difficult to track, and more difficult to shut down.

Helianthus 15y ago
The big players are defeated by the new playing field. There is no "their advantage," there's just a major change in how we produce content. It's away from exploitation of artists and the control of artistic message.
- beedogs 15y ago
  The production, the marketing the, distribution... EVERYTHING has changed for the music industry in about 15 years. They have no future unless the Internet is tightly controlled (which it cannot be.)
  - ColdAsIce 15y ago
    " Internet is tightly controlled (which it cannot be.)" Oh, it can be controlled alright. SOPA, PIPA today, tomorrow FIPA, DIPA and FuckInternetPA. One of them will pass, then more and more. And then you're sitting on cable tv. Clicked that link? Invoice has been mailed to you. Clicked that link? House search. Clicked that link? Prison cell prepared. Thank you and good bye. Oh, you will watch what you do online, you will not click on links without knowing before hand what is behind it. Good luck with that. You will not read just about anything, you will not write whatever you want, certainly not where ever. You will censor yourself before they come to censor you. They will produce and you will consume.
    - beedogs 15y ago
      Sadly, you're probably right. It won't be long, 10 years tops, before the US is doing deep packet inspection and hijacking sessions as a matter of course.
  - cookiecaper 15y ago
    The RIAA and other major music industry players may have no future, but there is definitely a profitable future for a "music industry" populated by entities that are willing to adjust to the modification in distribution channels and consumption habits. As it stands, the old-fashioned fogies are simply in denial and doing their best to prevent the marketplace from changing because they don't know how to use the new technology and they don't know how to succeed in the new marketplace. That doesn't mean that there's no future for the industry as a whole, it's simply the way entrenched players eventually die.
    - GHFigs 15y ago
      they don't know how to succeed in the new marketplace Who does, in your opinion?
      - chrisdroukas 15y ago
        I'm with you on this one. It's less that the RIAA and major labels 'don't know how to use the new technology and...succeed in the new marketplace' so much as we're currently (still) in an in-between stage of market control. Take for example Radiohead or Louis CK. Their previous successes allowed them to produce, release and distribute independently of big entertainment — but I don't think we're at the point where a small independent artist can effectively take their own music to market in a manner comparable to using a label. I don't have data to back this opinion, but high profile successes in independent distribution have been biased toward artists who were well-known and previously successful.

Helianthus 15y ago

The big players are defeated by the new playing field. There is no "their advantage," there's just a major change in how we produce content. It's away from exploitation of artists and the control of artistic message.

beedogs 15y ago
The production, the marketing the, distribution... EVERYTHING has changed for the music industry in about 15 years. They have no future unless the Internet is tightly controlled (which it cannot be.)
- ColdAsIce 15y ago
  " Internet is tightly controlled (which it cannot be.)" Oh, it can be controlled alright. SOPA, PIPA today, tomorrow FIPA, DIPA and FuckInternetPA. One of them will pass, then more and more. And then you're sitting on cable tv. Clicked that link? Invoice has been mailed to you. Clicked that link? House search. Clicked that link? Prison cell prepared. Thank you and good bye. Oh, you will watch what you do online, you will not click on links without knowing before hand what is behind it. Good luck with that. You will not read just about anything, you will not write whatever you want, certainly not where ever. You will censor yourself before they come to censor you. They will produce and you will consume.
  - beedogs 15y ago
    Sadly, you're probably right. It won't be long, 10 years tops, before the US is doing deep packet inspection and hijacking sessions as a matter of course.
- cookiecaper 15y ago
  The RIAA and other major music industry players may have no future, but there is definitely a profitable future for a "music industry" populated by entities that are willing to adjust to the modification in distribution channels and consumption habits. As it stands, the old-fashioned fogies are simply in denial and doing their best to prevent the marketplace from changing because they don't know how to use the new technology and they don't know how to succeed in the new marketplace. That doesn't mean that there's no future for the industry as a whole, it's simply the way entrenched players eventually die.
  - GHFigs 15y ago
    they don't know how to succeed in the new marketplace Who does, in your opinion?
    - chrisdroukas 15y ago
      I'm with you on this one. It's less that the RIAA and major labels 'don't know how to use the new technology and...succeed in the new marketplace' so much as we're currently (still) in an in-between stage of market control. Take for example Radiohead or Louis CK. Their previous successes allowed them to produce, release and distribute independently of big entertainment — but I don't think we're at the point where a small independent artist can effectively take their own music to market in a manner comparable to using a label. I don't have data to back this opinion, but high profile successes in independent distribution have been biased toward artists who were well-known and previously successful.