The Hook: Do we need to accept that music should be free?

15 February 2011

by Lars Brandle

Can paid music be saved or should we finally surrender? Four industry experts discuss whether modern music can still have a price tag.

Larry LeBlanc
Senior Writer, Celebrity Access

No industry can sustain itself on a free good model. Nor can creators make a living, if what they create is free. It took a change of configuration to compact disc to finally enable the recording industry to push past a US$10 threshold on an album. While the gaming industry was able to extract US$75 and above for its products, the recording industry was pilloried for its $12.99- $19.99 pricing on new albums.

Consumers felt ripped off, and many turned to P2P file sharing without guilt. iTunes then delivered a body blow to the music industry as severe as illegal downloading with its US99 cent pricing. Today, what many want is unlimited access to music; anytime, anywhere. The music industry has a better chance of controlling access to music than relying on a physical product.

Physical won’t disappear, but there’s a more viable business model in controlling the access and licensing of music to others. Consumers could then access music through platforms sustained by advertising or by subscriptions.

Rick Chazan
Director, Ground Control Music Management

It’s now the norm to download digital recordings without permission or paying the creators. This is happening for three reasons. Firstly, technology has made it possible. There are no effective deterrents. And finally, almost everybody is doing it; so there is a rationalisation of consciousness that it must be OK. Given that laws exist to protect intellectual property, the Government through its protracted inaction is effectively sanctioning theft on a grand scale.

Some say this is good business as free recordings have become a loss-leader for other income streams. But it should be the creators’ choice to give away their music. We’re in a transition period. It’s similar to when the road system began. Red lights, speeding fines, parking tickets all evolved over time.

The same will happen with music piracy. It will be sorted out and this period will be seen as a glitch, as we learned how to adapt to the Internet age. It’s imperative that the Australian Government acts now to devise and implement an effective strategy to protect creators’ rights.

Darren Sanicki
Music & Entertainment Lawyer

Absolutely not. It is a well-worn cliché, but no doubt a true one, that the emergence of the Internet is a game-changer for the delivery of music. As a medium, the innumerable benefits of the Internet demand that digitalized content flows unencumbered between users. The lack of such ‘encumbrances’ has led to a profound increase in piracy, not only in music but also in the mediums of television and film. It’s also true that copyright owners must adapt to this newish reality.

Copyright owners need to continue to look to alternative revenue streams to maximise the popularity of their ‘product’.

The traditional business model for the sale of music has been proven wholly inadequate in this new paradigm of readily-available and free online content. However, it does not follow that that it should be ‘accepted’ that artists should not be properly remunerated. Intellectual property, like any physical asset, is a commodity of value even in an environment where the true “value” can be difficult to determine.

Marianna Annas
Head, ABC Music Publishing

We need to accept that music has enormous value and that most of us could not imagine life without it. To the extent that any creative product or service, which is of value to consumers, should be paid for, music should not be free.

That said, we also have to accept that the accessibility of recorded music in the digital space needs to be streamlined in favour of commercially sound platforms which can provide music in compelling ways to consumers and fans; competitively priced, with optimum diversity, speedy availability, and in a manner which allows for a deep personal connection between fan and artist.

It’s foreseeable that collecting societies hold the key and will play expanded roles in the future, possibly acquiring broader digital rights from artists and working more collaboratively with technology providers.