Foolish (Again) on Digital Music
The Motley Fool is again commenting on digital music, this one an article by Anders Bylund titled "Entertainment Industry Breaking the Wrong Rules." In it, Bylund writes of how digital piracy busts and digital music stores represent the entertainment industry's digital strategy. The problem is he connects the wrong dots.
Bylund makes the common mistake of confusing the thirst for free music with the desire for a user-friendly music service, and then mistakes taking a fight against piracy as an unwillingness to take digital music seriously.
Taking down an ISP that hosted copyrighted content is an apple. A legitimate store like iTunes is an orange. The fight against piracy doesn't mean entertainment industries are against digital business models, it means they're against giving it away for free and without restrictions. There's a big difference. (It's as big a difference as illegal file sharing and fair use rights for sampling purposes, two issues that too often get lumped together.)
Music Groups