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Author Archives: ratpie
Networks or Services – Who is Music’s Better Partner?
When I formed the idea for a new business bundling broadband with music, in 2003, my thinking was guided by two simple principles. The first was that customers already saw music and broadband as a natural bundle. And the second … Continue reading
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Floating on a Sea of Demand for Music
Tin Cheuk Leung at the Chinese University of Hong Kong published in 2009 a paper entitled, ‘Should the Music Industry Sue Its Own Customers? Impacts of Music Piracy and Policy Suggestions.’ The updated version is available here. Parts of Leung’s paper … Continue reading
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What Happened to Vint Cerf?
This August, 2012, on FT.com Vint Cerf was quoted in an article about the upcoming UN discussions over Internet governance. But Mr Cerf says that pricing structures are antithetical to the internet as they could stifle innovation. “When Larry Page … Continue reading
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Orphans Don’t Belong in Collective Farms
The case for exemptions from copyright for some limited purposes, such as preserving our cultural heritage, or advancing scholarship, is surely uncontroversial. Who would really argue that old photographs or diaries, letters home, and the ephemera of life should not … Continue reading
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Don’t Give Up On The Music Market Just Yet
The huge and growing catalogue of music digitally available through an expanding choice of retailers and services might suggest that any supply side problems are well on the way to being solved. Look a bit closer however, and something is … Continue reading
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How Art Changes the Architecture of the Internet
Reading Neelie Kroes’ recent blog post on net neutrality (link updated Dec 2017) reminded me of a startling presentation that was given to Nanog in 2009 (I was not there so was thankful that the slides were made available here) which … Continue reading
Posted in markets, regulation, technology
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Music v. Tech – How to Stop Fighting Yesterday’s Wars
Google recently released some startlingly large numbers relating to the number of copyright infringement takedown requests it receives and continues to act upon. Almost at the same time (it can’t entirely be a coincidence) the UK book publishers’ trade association … Continue reading
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The Relative Incompetence of the Music Industry
Perhaps in the days of paper forms and typing pools it was excusable that the music industry shied away from line by line accounting in favour of statistical sampling and pro rata share outs of royalty pools. An additional copyright … Continue reading
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Some Numbers In The Digital Music Industry
There are now very few barriers to entry in the digital music industry, if you are lucky enough to be middle class in a developed economy. Production tools are essentially free if you have a computer; broadband connects you to … Continue reading
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Hooper’s DCE Probe is Artists’ Best Hope for Transparency
While there will be a lot of whining about yet more reviews and enquiries, the latest phase in music’s troubled relationship with Government represents the best and perhaps only hope for artists to reset the relationship with their record label … Continue reading
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