Cautions against hasty plans to combat illegal file-sharing, says poor approach could harm music industry as well as technology companies.
Feargal Sharkey, chief executive of UK Music, which represents the interests of the UK’s music industry, warned the British government to tread carefully on any regulation to control illegal file-sharing.
Sharkey, while a defender of rights holders, has led a rapprochement between the music industry and ISPs and is concerned by any government-imposed solution.
“For government to mandate about this well, it needs to be thought through," he told the Daily Telegraph recently. "It’s a big concept, which has the potential to do a lot of damage not only to the music industry but also to technology companies themselves, which could have deep ramifications."
"We are close, maybe weeks or months away, from finding some solutions for music lovers. It’s about choice for fans and there isn’t a one size fits all solution," Sharkey said.
His comments follow a leaked early draft of Lord Carter’s report on Digital Britain which said that a regulatory body called the Rights Agency would be introduced along with a new code of practice for ISPs and rights holders.
“Any intervention must be designed to embrace new horizons and must be fit and proper for use in a modern world, a modern society and a modern culture,” Sharkey said recently while speaking on a panel at the Midem digital music conference in Cannes.
“Regulation brings a cost to all parties. We all need to be sensitive that the debt we pay for an imposed government solution does not outweigh the benefits and the rewards.
Sharkey added: “By viewing ISPs as partners in the solution, I am certain that this can be the year that we all stop fretting about delivery platforms and concentrate on what really matters – the music.”
Sharkey said the focus should be on providing music fans with the legal music services they want, while ensuring copyright holders get paid and ISPs can grow and develop.
Jokes about a copyright holder exec with a surname Sharkey aside, at least he seems to understand what’s at stake here. The Internet has become the central means of communication, education, and even entertainment. Any govt efforts to combat copyright infringement risks hampering each of these, perhaps irreparably so for consumers and those technology companies striving to innovate and create new means of doing so.
jared@zeropaid.com
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