Check out Barry's Ritholtz blog posting on revisionist arguments concerning the legality and morality of P2P file sharing. While there is much to like about his comments, I strongly disagree with the following assertion:
Indeed, knowledgeable observers have long since figured out that P2P is not about copyright at all. Instead, its about disintermediation -- getting the Labels out of the middle, removing them from between the artist and the listener.
This statement would be true, in my opinion, only if artists and indie labels had convenient access to DRM packaging technologies and chose to use it at least some of the time. The problem, in my view, is that there is too little rather than too much DRM. Artists working in all media need to have access to DRM. Some of them might want to get paid and/or to know who's using their content. Then we would have real disintermediation.
Interested parties might want to check out my series last week on the Future of the Music industry, which can easily be accessed here.
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