Tom, Perhaps the 'unit' is the key. We're moving away from the physical unit to pure data. I remember when CD's came out that there were some people who felt a little short-changed, in terms of the difference in 'commodity' between a 12" vinyl LP and the smaller CD. Nowadays people are happy to download data and not bother with any tangible item. At the moment we still require a file, to load on to an iPod or burn a CD but will this necessarily be the case in the future? What if high speed wireless connections were ubiquitous? Would there be any need to own the file if you could just stream it from a server* to whatever device - personal stereo, hifi, car stereo - that you want to hear it from?
Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, record companies will have morphed into musical content providers and we will subscribe to different channels (be they channels for individual artists, groups of similar artists or a particular genre of music). On preview: Yes, like a TV license - we pay a fixed rate irrespective of how much content we actually consume. I think it would be great if there was a meritocracy whereby artists were paid in proportion to their popularity but I don't suppose record companies would be too happy to see the link between artist and audience become so transparent! Al *Tangential side note: Given that the volume of data being stored is climbing, and that this data has to sit on a server somewhere consuming precious energy, perhaps in the future there will be a tax on data and it will be essential to share files from a single source rather than wastefully having duplicate files in a number of different places. On 12/8/05, Tom Kerswill <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > tom coombs wrote: > > > interesting, but would people not try to get around paying? or one > > pays and shares the goods. > > > Yes... a bit like the TV license I suppose. But you can imagine a > situation in which a music content license was as ubiquitous as the TV > license. I mean, if there are about 50 million music listeners in the > UK, a tenner per month each pays for quite a lot of musicians ;-) Okay, > I'm getting a little simplistic and off-topic here! > > > and do heavy users pay the same as light users ? > > > > another Tom > > > > > > > > Tom Kerswill wrote: > > > >> Good point! Hopefully that kind of thing would be fairly easy to pick > >> up though :-) > >> > >> I suppose it's a bit like chart-rigging or spamming Google or > >> anything else - a bit of a pain but hopefully possible to get around it. > >> > >> Tom > >> > >> David Sargeant wrote: > >> > >>> I like this idea in theory but, and putting data protection aside, > >>> what is > >>> to stop people just cracking the revenue share info (or 50000 'idle' > >>> PCs > >>> playing my songs on loop for that matter) and earning themselves > >>> lots of > >>> money? > >>> > >>> > >>> -----Original Message----- > >>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Tom Kerswill > >>> Sent: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 11:55 PM > >>> To: backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk > >>> Subject: [backstage] iMP and alternative models to DRM > >>> > >>> Hi backstage people, > >>> > >>> I'm a bit of a lurker on the list and have been catching up! > >>> Especially on > >>> the iMP and how its DRM has apparently been cracked. > >>> > >>> Someone mentioned alternatives to DRM and I just thought I'd throw > >>> something > >>> I've been thinking about into the melting pot. I was thinking of it > >>> in terms > >>> of the music industry mainly, but it would be applicable to any kind of > >>> content. > >>> > >>> Rather than stopping people listing to what they want by using DRM, how > >>> about every user paying a license which allows them to listen to any > >>> music, > >>> but then sample / monitor what they listen to. For example - last.fm > >>> tracks > >>> what I am listening to on iTunes, whether it's a CD, a download from > >>> iTunes, > >>> or a bit of music from a website. Taking all the data, you can build a > >>> profile of who's listening to what music. You can then split the > >>> revenue > >>> from the license amongst all content creators, depending on how much > >>> their > >>> content has been listened to. Just like the PRS does with radio > >>> airplay. > >>> > >>> Going back to the iMP. As it is really an extension of a radio / tv > >>> player > >>> --- albeit one where the user chooses when and what content they > >>> listen to > >>> --- why not just treat it like any other TV / radio / content channel? > >>> Sample what everyone is listening to and pay royalties based on that? > >>> > >>> I know that this is a huge simplification --- and probably licensing > >>> laws > >>> for old content don't allow it --- but surely in the future this is > >>> going to > >>> be the simplest way to do it? Because it does always seem that > >>> people work > >>> out how to crack DRMs eventually... > >>> > >>> ... even if the "cracking" is as low-tech as simply plugging an mp3 > >>> player > >>> into the phono output of your computer while playing a BBC show. > >>> > >>> Tom > >>> - > >>> Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > >>> please > >>> visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > >>> Unofficial list archive: > >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > >>> > >>> - > >>> Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > >>> please visit > >>> http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > >>> Unofficial list archive: > >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > >>> > >>> > >> > >> - > >> Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > >> please visit > >> http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > >> Unofficial list archive: > >> http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > >> > > > > > > > > ___________________________________________________________ To help > > you stay safe and secure online, we've developed the all new Yahoo! > > Security Centre. http://uk.security.yahoo.com > > - > > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, > > please visit > > http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > > Unofficial list archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > > > - > Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. To unsubscribe, please > visit http://backstage.bbc.co.uk/archives/2005/01/mailing_list.html. > Unofficial list archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/backstage@lists.bbc.co.uk/ > - Sent via the backstage.bbc.co.uk discussion group. 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