*If* MP3 downloading cuts into record sales the record industry will be faced with two options:

• Adapt - Heaven forbid they sell consumers what they want.
• Resist - If they choose to resist then you are right, they only have one option, which is the prosecution of individuals which will be not only a PR nightmare but also *very* costly.

I think we're seeing signs that soon they'll adapt, i.e. Universal Music to Offer Album Downloads on EMusic. But of course I hope they resist and die because who besides Britney needs them? (Artists will of course continue to need smaller labels.. Just not any of the big 5).

Update 1:

Looks like Gary believes their only option is DRM. I disagree. Once labels figure out how to couple tangible benefits to the sale of an intangible like music then they'll be back in business. Rogue p2p networks may (in the future) offer perfectly encoded & tagged MP3s over a blindingly fast connection but by downloading those MP3s you won't be eligible to win front row tickets or get discounts on T-shirts and the like (i.e. The Tragically Hip's THC).

Labels act as gatekeepers and 'unfortunately' they can't guard against people listening to music but they can levy tolls for access to concerts, merchandise, chats,... That's where the money will be.
2:28:30 PM   []

Each illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) download of a song robs the songwriters of the 8 cents they are due under the mechanical license. That may not seem like much, but when you multiply 8 cents by the reported 1.1 billion downloads on one P2P system in one month, it calculates out to $88,000,000 dollars...a month. Divide even 1/10th of that money among the 5,000 members of the Songwriters Guild of America, and you begin to see that P2P piracy robs songwriters on a massive scale.

Elsewhere in the world: Path to number one cleared for Gareth:

For the last three weeks, JXL's Elvis Presley remix - A Little Less Conversation - has been number one. Gareth's record company, BMG, are in charge of that single too.

But BMG have now stopped supplying shops with copies of it so people can't buy it anymore.

Bosses at the record company, including Pop Idol's Mr Nasty Simon Cowell, are apparently surprised at how well it's done.

And now they are worried it will ruin the chances of Gareth's new record

12:36:58 PM   []