The speech given by manager Paul McGuinness (U2) at MIDEM has stirred up a lot of reaction on the Internet. (Read full text here.) I think it will be a call to arms for some in the record industry (he received applause from the audience) and a major annoyance (or comedic act) to many outside the industry.

McGuinness spoke the same language as was found in the recent IFPI 2008 Digital Music report, and finds like-minded people in the proponents of France's ISP filtering plan. His speech, more a passionate polemic than detailed action plan, was broad and often wandering. I have plenty of questions. Does he want to criminal prosecution of file-sharing and filtering of infringing traffic at the ISP level? (Seems like the latter should eliminate the need for the former, right?) Does he want an industry-created, all-inclusive service that sells downloads or allows for subscriptions? (Right after pitching the idea for the service and mentioning sales, he quotes subscription believer Rick Rubin.)

McGuinness was at his worst when he spoke of tech companies that have "our money," as if music companies had a right to share the revenues of completely legal products. A sense of entitlement will get the industry nowhere, especially if labels want to create legitimate partnerships with ISPs and tech companies.

Tech blogs, as one would expect, did not greet these comments with the glee of a Steve Jobs keynote. At his Ingraham 2.0 blog, The Globe and Mail's Matthew Ingraham called the idea "ridiculous." TechDirt's Mike Masnick called "meaningless" McGuinness' claim that music companies have suffered at the expense of tech companies. PC World's Travis Hudson encouraged U2 to "just stick with other causes like Darfur and global warming.".

Ars Technica's Nate Anderson has a fair overview of ISPs use of the safe harbor provision and the technical and privacy issues. He points out that "shifting the focus to ISPs could also stop the RIAA's US legal campaign against suspected file-swappers," something I think some people would consider a fair trade.

Industry trade the Hollywood Reporter gave a somewhat sympathetic account of the speech and brought no opposing views.