Man, the RIAA are really barking up the wrong tree, it would seem. Yes, mininova has gone legitimate but that doesn’t mean that this will affect download numbers between casual music listeners.
If you want to see CD or iTunes sales pick up, you have to take down P2P networks that the clear majority of music theives use, or at least their widely known clients such as Kazzaa, LimeWire, so on, so forth.
Why do I say that? well.. because bootlegging has become TOO easy, now. And it shouldn’t be. Finding rare, and unknown works from obscure artists should be a task that consumes more than a 10 minute index search and it should have an element of risk in it.
Once single moms and grandparents get on a specific file-sharing bandwagon, you know it’s time to move on to something new.

So it seems that almost none of the required funds that Global Gaming Factory needs in order to buy The Pirate Bay have been raised thus far. This, to be honest, isn’t shaping up to be a great situation for file sharers and fans of The Pirate Bay. The way the TPB staff are going to be able to pay off their legal expenditures and fines, is obviously going to be way of selling the site. But the only interested buyer can’t get the money and the clock seems to be ticking. In an interview Wayne Rosso has been quoted to say: 

“We decided that we’re not going risk our reputation further. The more time we spent with Mr. Pandeya, the less confident we were. I don’t think there’s going to be any money raised with GGF’s current plans.”

And when confronted with the news, Pirate Bay founders have been said to arrogantly state that GGF have a week to raise the necessary funds or “the deal is off”. You see, to me that seems like a very slippery stance to take when you’re piled down with legal debts and the only real way out is to sell your site. I really don’t think they should be so picky about who is willing to buy that site as, if one were to ask me, isn’t actually worth much of anything. I mean, yeah it’s an internet icon, but it’s core foundation is based on distributing content that they don’t own the copyright to. In all actuality, it’s probably going to cost you out-of-pocket to run that site and anything you pay for it is going to be an enormous loss. That is, unless you have an idea that can take a user-base of media consumers that aren’t willing to pay for content under the guise of bootlegging and be able to draw an income from it behind the scenes, with the risk of 75 – 90 % of the users migrating away from your site on the sole fact that you are a new owner. If the kids over that The Pirate Bay were really serious about paying off their legal debt, they’d be sharpening their pencils every damn day for a buyer dumb enough to invest in a bombshell that’s past her prime. 

It’s not looking good, out there.

The RIAA has been stated to say over the weekend to officially say, at least in terms of commercial music, that digital rights management is dead. 

I guess that it’s good that they’ve realized this, but I also think that it’s atrocious that it took this long for them to realize it. I mean, after the Sony/BMG rootkit debacle and the countless horrid jukebox players that would embed themselves on a legitimate purchaser’s PC with no safe way to remove them? you would think that they would have, by process of elimination, figured out that DRM has never stopped anyone from bootlegging any kind of music and has only made it difficult for the people who paid to enjoy the music they’ve invested in.

So, my obvious reaction is be “good riddance to bad rubbish.” Developing a new business model means you actually have to build a new one, not just hamhandedly enforce your existing one and calling it a new business model.

So now not only France but Spain has struck down the “3 Strikes” proposition for file sharers that’s been circulating throughout western Europe. ISPs have stated that it’s ludicrous to demand that they punish their customers without a viable, legal alternative to use. And I have to agree with them, because it simply is ridiculous to demand such a thing.

It’s kind of sad to see it when groups of people who think that they have some kind of authoritative position trying to come to grips with a situation that they do not understand in any remote capacity. I mean, it’s as simple as this: hen people see a problem and they understand what is happening and what can be done about it to fix or modify things to turn it into a positive event, they simply test and implement what needs to be done whereas people who have no idea what’s wrong with their business model or how to go about fixing it, they simply start barking orders and issuing stiff ultimatums at staff as well as customers.

I have to wonder if the entertainment industry knows that they don’t have all the time in the world to come to grips with the reality they’re facing and develop new models for distribution and generating revenue. Because if they don’t get their heads out of their asses, someone is going to beat them to the punch and that will be the final nail in the coffin.