Home Taping Is Killing Music

I have written before about the music industry's struggle to understand the new digital world. There are some signs that the industry are getting the hang of it (e.g. The Times Giveaway) but there are other signs that show they are still thrashing about a bit (e.g. Warner Music goes backwards!).

One recent example of "thrashing about" is the Digital Economy Bill that seems to being pushed through the UK Parliament at the moment. Thankfully, there are groups that are fighting back. I am not sure I agree with the idea that Internet access is is a "right" but I hope they succeed in preventing legislation that would result in the punishment of individuals without reference to judge or jury. (In the proposal it says, "...the Secretary of State to direct Ofcom to
introduce the measures they had determined were effective and proportionate should he conclude that such measures are necessary to achieve the overall objective", i.e. one person will be able to instruct Ofcom to take steps to cut off a users access.)

This post is getting a bit heavy, so here's a musical response that amused me. It's based on the old "Home taping is killing music" campaign from the eighties.



Silly song. Serious point. See Don't Disconnect Us for more details.