As I mentioned, I’m out in Vegas attending the Tech Policy Summit at CES today and tomorrow and trying to blog about some of what’s going on. Here’s my summary of panel#1 on broadband policy and panel #2 on spectrum policy. The third panel was on the future of copyright and content creation. The session was moderated by Declan McCullagh, Sr. Correspondent, CBSNews.com and Contributor, CNET News. The panelists included:
- Jim Griffin, President, Choruss LLC and Advisor to Warner Music Group
- Fred von Lohmann, Senior Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation
- Gigi Sohn, Co-founder and President, Public Knowledge
- Hank Shocklee, Creative Director and CEO Music Producer, Founder of Public Enemy and President, Shocklee Entertainment
- Michael Robertson, Founder, MP3.com
- Dave Allen, Co-founder and President, Pampelmoose and Co-founder, Fight
I have briefly summarized some of what each speaker said down below:
Jim Griffin
– Nobody in music industry has given up on any business model
– Advertising often ill-suited to a digital world
– Music is inherently anarchistic; we need to find a way to monetize it instead of stop it
– Bono’s “unfortunate” approach wouldn’t help get people paid
– But we do need to find ways to get artists fairly compensated
– This is all about making it faster and easier to pay
– Price of music is subjective; hard to determine
– Chorus model goal is to create flat-fee for unlimited use of music
– Will have to let the collection agencies figure out the payout formula
Fred von Lohman
– Does subscription model work for digital model?
– $5 Per-month, on-demand model (Mog or Spotify?)
– Chorus model of trying to monetize P2P is where we need to go; collective licensing is the future
– A surveillance system for copyright wouldn’t work well for piracy and would be used by others for other things (indecency, gambling, etc)
– Recording industry has given up on lawsuit strategy
Gigi Sohn
– Blasted U2 Bono’s call for centralized filtering / DPI
– Calls it “legalized wiretapping”
– Worried about FCC getting involved in copyright fights; thinks Net neutrality proceeding could open door to allowing copyright enforcement with help of ISPs
Hank Shocklee
– Compensation on many different levels & new ways (touring is up)
– Price of music today is too high
– In future, no more rich artists; lots of little niche artists all making less
– Crumbling of record labels is “a great thing”
Michael Roberston
– Most new business models won’t work; some just recycle old models that failed
– Cost of music licenses from record labels are too expensive
Dave Allen
– Disconnect between old models and new technological realities; old “containers” for music no longer hold it in or help monetize itNeed totally new model for music and labels
– Artists are going to have to let go of the old models and dream
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