The problem is that because the World Wide Web is so different from what the industry has so far been accustomed to, existing methods are simply not working. Physical mediums, such as DVDs and CDs, have their limits. You can only play them back in one computer or one DVD-player at a time and there is no easy way of making physical copies. Digital media files do not have these limitations. They can be played on any number of devices at a time, anyone can make unlimited copies with relative ease and those copies can be shared with anyone else in the world. That brings up the problem of piracy. Piracy is nothing new to the industry. It has existed for as long as there have been physical mediums but unique to online file-sharing is the fact that copies are distributed for free and practically anyone can share their media with the rest of the world. These essential differences between physical and digital media call for a total renewal of the business methods of music and movie industries. Companies, however, refuse to change their ways.

In order to combat illegal downloads and make digital media more like physical mediums, record labels and film studios have developed Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems to add those restrictions to digital media files they sell, effectively limiting their customers’ ability to use legally purchased media. That does not make sense, does it? The sad fact is that DRM is defective by design. It only affects those individuals who buy their music and videos legally since pirated copies have no such limitations. So for the consumer, options for acquiring digital music and videos are either: a) buy crippled, restricted songs or movies legally or: b) download an illegal copy that you can do anything with. While I agree that it is perfectly OK to use DRM with songs or movies that are given away for free, selling digitally protected files is not a viable option.

Every year the industry spends millions of dollars on the war against file-sharing. The Internet was created to make sharing of data and information faster and simpler. By fighting file-sharers, the industry is also fighting the Internet and that is a war they will ultimately lose. Some experts even suggest that the music industry is shooting itself in the foot by going after the file-sharers. Roger Wallis, a media professor, composer and Chairman of the Swedish Composers of Popular Music, testified during the trial over the Swedish filesharing site the Pirate Bay and claimed that on the whole, file-sharing is beneficial to the music and movie industries. That may very well be true because although file-sharing was on the rise, box offices in Canada and the US broke multiple records in 2008. Despite the rise in file-sharing, it was an extremely successful year for the movie business. In addition, Wallis claimed that while some people download, they are also tend to buy more CDs and are likely to attend live events more often.

By now, some of you might have the misconception that I am advocating piracy or stealing. I can assure you that is not the case. I strongly believe that authors should get paid for their hard work but I also think that record labels and film studios should stop their war on file-sharing and concentrate on renewing their business practices and finding new ways to sell and distribute content. The fact is that people like to download content from the Web. Instead of fighting them, companies should come up with ideas to profit from this. I believe the piracy problem will disappear on it’s own when consumers are given alternatives that are both appealing to them as well as profitable for the companies.