Q&A Cary Sherman, RIAA president, on battle vs. file swappers
Critics of the music industry say there's no way the big recording companies can stop consumers from illegally swapping their favorite tunes over the Internet. But Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America, says his group's decision to sue hundreds of file swappers is bearing fruit even as it has drawn criticism. Sherman tells Globe reporter Hiawatha Bray that consumers are beginning to abandon their larcenous ways.
What's the current status of the lawsuits against file swappers?
We have filed the original 261, and we've sent notices to another 204 that we intend to bring suit unless they want to talk about it beforehand.
Could you just threaten to sue them unless they immediately stopped swapping files?
That would not be a very effective strategy, because that would tell people that they can infringe until they get a notice. So we do intend to file the lawsuit unless they settle in advance.
How big are the settlements you've negotiated?
All the settlements that have been consummated to date have been in the neighborhood of $3,000. The purpose is not to be vindictive or punitive. The intent is to send a message of deterrence.
Is the campaign working?
A whole lot of people have stopped illegal downloading and have started using legitimate services instead.
We've even seen a spike in CD sales for the first time since 2001. For six weeks in a row, CD sales have been higher.
That's very good news for the music industry . . . the record stores are desperate for business, because the retail music industry is being decimated right now.
On the other hand, the lawsuits have generated negative publicity for the recording industry. How strong has the backlash been?
We think it's been a remarkably small public relations backlash. We actually thought it would be worse than it was. Instead we actually got editorial support from The New York Times, other opinion leaders, and members of Congress.
Some consumers have claimed that they didn't even know file swapping was illegal. Do you buy that?
Certainly a lot of people who have been sued say that they didn't know, and it's very hard to tell if that's an honest statement or not.
But certainly from our public opinion polling, there is certainly a lot of confusion about when it's legal to download and when it's not. . . . The lawsuits have penetrated the fog of confusion and misunderstanding that surrounds legal downloading.
Will the launch of legal downloading services like the Apple iTunes Music Store make a dent in illegal file swapping?
It's very difficult to make a judgment like that when these services have just launched. As more and more people migrate to these services, try them out, and see how great they are, especially in comparison to the virus-ridden, unreliable, poor-quality service that they get from services like Kazaa, the more they're going to try legal services and stick with them.
A student at Princeton University recently announced that a system to prevent illegal copying of music files can be easily beaten. Can any technology prevent music piracy?
I don't think anybody's under the illusion that there's a technical solution to this problem.If we had one technology that was the problem, then sure, we could get our hopes up . . . but we're talking about a convergence of computer equipment that is merging with consumer electronics equipment, that is merging with broadcast, that is merging with satellite communications . . . It is simply not possible, as a practical matter, to gain control over the entire distribution. That's been a reality that we've been aware of for a very long time.
