Speaking at the Digital Music Forum in Manhattan on Wednesday, McBride criticized the ongoing string of lawsuits from the RIAA against individual file-sharers, which started in September, 2003.
"There is a better way to make the model work, and suing is not it," McBride said. The statements are part of a newly-launched campaign by McBride, who bristled against the trade organization in a January open letter. That created an unexpected and major rift within the industry, driven by the credibility and influence of McBride.
"I had to go from silent opposition to global opposition," McBride said Wednesday. The manager noted that many file-sharers are also fans, and urged the industry to loosen its grip on both piracy enforcement and pricing.
"Right now, we are telling consumers how much to pay for music, when they should be telling us," the top manager said. With that philosophy in mind, McBride recommended that labels allow consumers to guide a lower price point on paid downloads, which would create a strong disincentive for P2P file-sharing. Meanwhile, McBride also criticized the use of DRM protection technologies, and highlighted the disparity between its use online and off. Specifically, McBride noted that CDs do not contain DRM protections, while online formats do. "One side of the coin does and the other side doesn’t," he said, "but it’s the same coin".
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“Right now we are telling consumers how much to pay for music when they should be telling us”
hmmm I want it so cheap they HAVE TO PAY US because most of the Music/Movies these days SUCK BALLS!
Bring back the era of Classic Rock!