U2 manager urges ISPs to help fight web piracy
The music industry should shift the focus of its battle with internet piracy towards the technological industries which have “built multibillion dollar industries on the back of our content without paying for it”, according to Paul McGuinness, manager of rock group U2.
Context & Ripple Effects
McGuinness’s argument lands amid a broader music-business effort to redirect piracy enforcement toward network operators, reflected in the industry push to put responsibility on ISPs. It extends an earlier enforcement-focused posture seen in the campaign against music piracy.
For U2, the stance also contrasts with its 2007 use of Facebook’s iLike app to preview an unreleased track: digital platforms can be promotional partners as well as targets of rights-holder criticism.
First-order effects
- Paul McGuinness puts U2’s name behind a demand that ISPs, rather than only individual downloaders, take a larger role in combating unauthorized music distribution.
- ISPs become the immediate target of a music-industry argument that technology businesses benefit from copyrighted content without adequately compensating its owners.
Second-order effects
- Record labels gain a higher-profile ally for shifting piracy disputes toward the network layer, increasing pressure on ISPs to engage with rights holders over enforcement responsibilities.
- Technology platforms and access providers face a sharper divide between promotional partnerships with artists and demands that they police the distribution of protected works.
Third-order effects
- If rights holders sustain this shift, online copyright enforcement may move from pursuing individual users toward assigning gatekeeper duties to the companies that provide access and distribution infrastructure.
The trend: The music industry is reframing web piracy from a consumer-behavior problem into a responsibility and bargaining dispute with internet intermediaries.