By James Pew

This whole Liliy Allen anti-file sharing story is an important one. Its unfortunate if the issue breaks down to a pissing contest between pro-file sharing new music hipsters, and old school proponents of last centuries music business model. I do not want to see more of the gross misunderstanding that leads to and incites polarization between the two schools of thought.

The fact is that Lily Allen, her anti-file sharing supporters, and the other high profile artists joining her cause simply do not understand the often convoluted intricacies of copyright, the culture of sharing, and new business models derived from “free.”

Her is a quote from Bob Lefsetz regarding the Lily Allen debacle:

Why don’t we just turn over GM to the drivers. Hell, I’m in my car every day, I know how to run Chevrolet!

Or maybe cancer patients should draft the health care bill. Hell, they’ve been sick!

To let artists have the final say on file-sharing is like firing Derek Jeter and letting a fan play shortstop. Hell, I’ve watched a lot of baseball, I know what’s involved!

You don’t.

A great artist is just that. He couldn’t design Facebook, couldn’t create the iPod… His input is important, but just because he’s affected by file-trading, that doesn’t mean he understands it, has the right opinion on how to eradicate it, assuming that’s the ultimate desire.

Wow. Finally someone said it. Just because you are an artist (even a great artist like Elton John), does not in anyway mean that you are an authority or expert in the complicated copyright/file sharing/new music model space.

Here is another Leftsetz quote from the same piece:

In other words, the solution to the file-trading problem is not legislative, it requires business innovation. Which I don’t expect to come from Ms. Allen, I’ve never heard she was a good programmer.

Instead of bloviating, it’s best to research. And even a casual Web-surfer, as opposed to a partier like Ms. Allen or a wannabe dad like Elton John, read TechCrunch’s report on Daniel Ek’s interview at the Glasshouse event at the Royal College of Physicians in London last week.

Mr. Ek, said 80% of Spotify users have stopped file-sharing.

That solves your problem right there, Ms. Allen. Why steal when you can get it on demand? Even mobile, with Spotify’s iPhone app caching?

Then you have Richard Greenfield, of PaliResearch, stating last week that getting a little from a lot is better than the current model.

In other words, are you better off overcharging a few people for music, or getting everybody to pay a little?

I’m not living in a pipe dream. I realize the success of Spotify is not guaranteed. Can Ek generate enough paying customers? How much revenue will ultimately be generated? But working toward new models is a hell of a lot better than trying to keep fans in the past because you liked the twentieth century model better.

Check out these Techdirt posts to get the full story on Lily Allen’s misguided crusade:

Is Lily Allen A Pirate Too?
Lily Allen: Copying Isn’t Alright… Unless It’s Done By Lily Allen
Lily Allen, Don’t Apologize To Me, Apologize To Everyone Else
Some Questions For Lily Allen

Here is a related post from Studio Manifesto (My thoughts on a post of the same name by Hypebot’s Bruce Houghton):
The Music Industry Pays The Price Of Negativity

Read the full Leftsetz post here Lefsetz Letter

Technorati Tags: bob lefsetz, Copyright, file sharing, Lily Allen, michael masnick, Techdirt

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This entry was posted on Thursday, September 24th, 2009 at 10:11 am and is filed under Copyright, Music Business, Music Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.